Photo by Mike Martinez
Leah Hennessey has done and seems to constantly be doing it all. Playwriting, acting in said written plays, being generally just pretty informed and informative of how to be relevant in a perpetually Manhattan way. Fronting her band Hennessey is one of many pursuits.
The band’s first single “Sleeping Beauty” definitely had a little bit of the 80’s pretty prominently pulsing through it, but this time around they’ve gone with the tell don’t show approach. And there’s nothing wrong with that. You can be outright and effective in the details, like the decidedly dated red nail polish and oversized trench coat/scarf combo in this video for “Let’s Pretend (It’s the 80s).”
While the subject matter is direct, it’s thorough. It manages to call out references to niche photographer Maripol who once lurked through Soho and Lizzie Mercier Descloux, a multi-talented force that I myself had to Google. Synth rhythms and a catchy chorus of “let’s pretend that we love money” keep it accessible. This song, which is the lead off of their first 4-track LP, is urging you to understand that this project is a medium that’s allowing itself to be “clever but also embarrassingly sincere” with the writing and the sound.
I love that.
Watch the video for “Let’s Pretend (It’s the 80s)” out today on Velvet Elk Records. Follow the band here, here, and listen here
