EP Review: Brisbane’s Lucy Francesca Dron releases ‘Leftovers’: a collection of jazzy, intimate and beautiful songs

Lucy Francesca Dron‘s new EP ‘Leftovers’ showcases her vibrant and dynamic songwriting and inherent style as well as a voice soaked in late night excess, pain and poetry. ‘Leftovers’ is pure theatricality and poise: torchlit songs that shine with passion.

First track ‘What Is Next’ has almost a jazzy element and a fast complex pace, Dron’s voice an extraordinary instrument that scats and soars above the dappling guitars that sometimes ascend into a fuzzy blast. Next track, ‘Mirrors’ dials back the pace a little: a reflective track with a subdued, filtering piano but with the same soaring vocals from Dron. It shifts subtly in tempo, but remains grand and theatrical.

‘Take It From Me’ presses gently on the accelerator: a faster paced track with a pulse and verve. Dron’s vocals again shine with range and emotion.

There is a raw visceral edge to the single ‘Liquid Numbing Pain’  that is really quite exquisite. Dron’s voice is infused with a late night insouciance, dripping with emotion and pain, soaring magnificently over a sparse rumbling soundtrack – insistent and driving, relentless. You cannot help but think of Amy Winehouse, but with a more grounded indie rumble. There are no frills to the instrumentation: the sugar-coated alcohol-infused gloss is Dron’s extraordinary voice inflected by a huge range and depth of feeling.

Dron says simply of the track that it is a raw and honest retelling of my own experience of intense heartbreak and loss. You can certainly feel each emotional blow deeply in the vocals – imbued with a late night whiskey soaked decent into personal hell.

The accompanying video is just as raw – direct and simple and all the more visceral and compelling for it:

‘Leftovers’ ends with ‘Epilogue’ a slower swinging piece that evokes late night cellars and red velvet lounges. Raw and visceral, naked and bold singing creates serrated edges that catch and shine.

‘Leftovers’ is a bold and evocative statement from Dron. Her divine voice is one filled with pain, joy and sorrow – a life lived at the edge yet immersed in all of its vicissitudes. She has the stature and grace of a star being born. You can download/stream the EP here and listen below.

You can catch Dron live in Brisbane on 3 July 2021 – details here.