LEONA NAESS Thirteens (2009 UK 13-track CD album - Leona Naess was born in New York, grew up in London, returned to America, studied anthropology, got a record deal at 22, modelled for Calvin Klein and dated Ryan Adams, but the songwriter says she would 'rather shoot myself than listen to my own story'. Following the sudden death in 2004 of her father, Leona disappeared for a while, cutting herself off from the music scene. Recently, over the past two or three years and while living in London, Naess began playing again, teaming up with friend and producer Sam Dixon for daily writing sessions at his home, and here and there with other musician friends. 'Thirteens' brings together the best from this prolific time - astonishingly pure songs; songs of mourning and realisation and muted joy. Sadness has rarely sounded so sublime, from the slow, beautiful drift of opener 'Ghosts In The Attic' to the plaintive and confiding 'Heavy Like Sunday'. The record holds happier moments too, reflecting Naess's unassailable mischievous side: the giddiness of 'Lipstick', the rollicking 'Unnamed', written drunkenly just before her father's death, and the spirited, rabble-rousing single 'Leave Your Boyfriends Behind'.)