Leslie Mendelson

The pairing of sparseness and potency that informs ‘If You Can’t Say Anything Nice…’ was inspired by John Lennon’s ‘Plastic Ono Band’ album. Besides being emotive and topical of the day, Leslie favored its no-frills piano, bass, drums, and guitar approach. ‘If You Can’t Say Anything Nice…’ opens with the urgent love song, “Lay It On Me.” The track unfolds theatrically with dramatic dynamic shifts, and the lyrics are emotive and direct with such lines as: “I just want to ease your pain/Beat the hammer through these walls/Anything that I can say/To make your fears feel so small/So lay it all on me.”

The dangers of self-medication in the age of readily available options pervade the intimately reflective ballad, “Medication.” On the title track, Leslie channels her inner Nick Cave, swaggering and snarling through filthy-but-catchy blues-rock. The self-explanatory “Would You Give Up Your Gun” is a stirring, elegantly emotive political track. Leslie clarifies: “That song is not meant to be preachy. We have loose gun laws and there have been so many massacres in the last 10 years. I am posing the question to those who feel safe by hanging onto their right to bear arms—would you give up your gun to save lives?”

Leslie opens “I Need Something To Care About” with the lines: “I can’t feel a thing for anything/Thinking that my minds desensitized.” The song is a plea to pull oneself from a numbing depression. Here, the contrast of airy piano melodic figures, treated vocals, and delicate ambient textures create a swirl of emotions within the music. “We all want a purpose, and when we feel we have nothing to say, it’s scary, and you fight that by searching,” Leslie reveals.

Leslie has boldly bared many private fears on If You Can’t Say Anything Nice…, and expressing her inner landscape has been scary but also healing. “When you share something this vulnerable you do get some comfort because it resonates with people,” she acknowledges. “You realize you’re not alone.”