LHO – Exposure (2021)
A sweet relationship fills you with happiness and bright lights, but there is a chance that it can turn sour. LHO tells the story of this turn in the single ‘Exposure’ which perfectly captures the conflicting feelings of the moment. From hurt and sadness to confusion and spite, it leads listeners through the feelings of something good slipping through your fingers and leaving sharp bitterness behind.
Leighann Hodgkins is the voice and mind behind LHO which came to life in the middle of quarantine. While she got her start in country music, she has hungered for more and started to write dark pop to unleash negative emotions and find a path forward. This musical project is unapologetic and unafraid to tell things like they are and hold people to account.
‘Exposure’ pops and pulses to life through the synths that bubble around your head. Weaving between these bubbling beats is a light synth that teases the edges of your sense. The chittering tones that enter as the song progresses adds texture to the music. There are moments of soothing key notes that have you floating in a pastel pool of sensation. The melody has a lot going on that all comes together perfectly for a single that has you floating in emotion while endlessly moving forward.
LHO’s vocals call through the soundscape to get your attention before delving into the emotions of a relationship coming to an end. There is a sense of questioning what has happened through her vocals that turns into hurt with a dusting of spite. Her vocals rise like a delicate film riding the air currents at times. This drops for the chorus where she works through the slipping of the relationship and leads to an understanding that both people in the relationship may be at fault. In the latter parts of the single, the lyrics are packed with melancholic spite as they try to come to terms with the other person moving on.
LHO fills you with the conflicting emotions of the end of a relationship and the struggles of coming to terms with this in ‘Exposure’. The melody has a wonderful texture that keeps you moving forward while the vocals rise and fall through the emotions. As you roll through the single, the emotive vocal delivery has you feeling everything from surprise to hurt, anger, spite and melancholy.
Find out more about LHO on her Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Spotify.
