Music
Quasimodos Dream
Leah Flanagan returns with a haunting reinterpretation of Quasimodo’s Dream, the cult 1981 classic by The Reels. Recorded live at Oceanic Studios in Sydney, Flanagan’s version is intimate and cinematic—anchored by a delicate acoustic arrangement from Jim Moginie (Midnight Oil) and supported by longtime collaborators Declan Kelly and Adam Ventura.
Mixed by Pip Norman, the track honours the emotional weight of the original while offering something distinctly her own: a performance that feels timeless, lived-in, and quietly powerful. Flanagan’s voice—warm, steady, and arrestingly clear—guides the listener through this reimagined dreamscape with grace and intention.
Quasimodo’s Dream is the first release from her forthcoming EP Smoke, a live-recorded collection exploring memory, transformation, and identity. It marks Flanagan’s return to recorded music since 2020—and signals a bold new chapter in her evolving sound.
Colour By Number
On Colour By Number, Leah Flanagan paints in bold, unflinching strokes. The Darwin-born singer-songwriter, crafts an album that is as kaleidoscopic as it is cohesive—an evocative portrait of identity, memory, and resilience.
From the first track, Flanagan’s voice—a velvet instrument of poise and power—commands attention. She navigates soul, pop, and jazz with an effortless grace, channeling the intimacy of Norah Jones with the lyrical precision of Joni Mitchell. But Flanagan is never derivative. On tracks like “Chills,” she fuses swelling string arrangements with simmering grooves, creating a sound that feels cinematic yet deeply personal.
Lyrically, Colour By Number is a quiet rebellion. Flanagan doesn’t shout; she reveals. Songs unravel stories of love, displacement, and the quiet strength of womanhood, often through metaphors rooted in nature and memory. The production—warm, restrained, and textured—allows her storytelling to shine.
Saudades
On Saudades, Leah Flanagan leans into longing with grace and precision. Drawing on the Portuguese concept of saudade—a kind of beautiful ache for what’s lost or unattainable—she delivers her most stripped-back, emotionally resonant work yet.
The lead single, “Chills,” sets the tone with its quiet intensity. Described by Forte Magazine as “a calming, honest offering,” and praised by Timber & Steel for its “lyrically raw” storytelling, the track pairs sparse production with a smoldering groove that lets Flanagan’s rich, expressive vocals do all the heavy lifting. It's an opening that pulls you in without flash, just feeling.
Elsewhere, “Old Fashioned” delivers a warm, melancholic nod to timeless love songs. While not as widely reviewed, it’s a clear standout—intimate, smoky, and full of quiet yearning, sitting perfectly within the album’s mood of late-night introspection.