Leah Carla Gordone is the daughter of a Pulitzer prize winner, and she has opened for the Indigo Girls and Norah Jones. She's been described as "a street wise version of Natalie Merchant." But what does her music sound like?
Well, I personally don't care for it. But, I'm not a woman. And I am neither wholesome, or political, or interesting. So, perhaps this album isn't for me. I wondered what is this Dragon she refers to Dancing On in the album title. It turns out, there's a description of the philosophy of the title. Your Dragon is "anything you have had to overcome in your life." Gordone then goes on to describe how you are to first "overcome your dragon", and then you can Dance on your Dragon.
To whit: "Once you are dancing on the Dragon, you are transforming your pain into joy. You are using energy generated by your obstacle (*dragon) as fuel for your journey."
So back to the music. It's nothing new. Very Indigo Girls inspired folk femme rock, with a slightly interesting Celtic Flair to it. If anything, this makes the music stand out a little, but not so much that it is primarily of note.
There really isn't too much as far a songwriting goes. The lyrics in particular are tired, and overbearing, not to mention corny. There is obviously a very strong new age attitude. Of course there's nothing wrong with that, but it is over the top. The funky, slinky Ani DeFranco style breakdowns tend to overbalance themselves. There is not one song on this album I care entirely for. This album seems to be stuck in- I'm gonna say it- the 90s. I call it Celtic post grunge feminist folk rock.
On the track entitled the Dragon, the philosophy of the album is further explained. I am, however, a little confused. The final lyric is "if you don't [slay the dragon], you'll have to then obey him." As I read that, it says that if I don't overcome my obstacle, I'll have to obey it. But my question is: where do I get the energy to overcome the dragon? I have to overcome the dragon before I can dance on it. And THEN I can use the energy generated by my obstacle to fuel my journey. Again, I don't pretend to have the ability to translate this, because I'm not of the correct gender. I'd like to think I could sympathize with isolation and struggle. But this just leaves me bewildered.
Ms. Gordone is probably a really cool person. From the lyrics and the general attitude in the music, I get that she is open minded and a strong individual. I just don't think her music is for me. It's for females and that's about all there is to it.
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