Leader Cheetah Track-By-Track And Stream: Lotus Skies  July 11, 2011

Leader Cheetah's Dan Crannitch (singer/guitarist) talks McCartney indebted horns, Holly Throsby's guest vocals and the making of sophomore LP, "Lotus Skies".

Lotus Skies drops July 15 via Spunk!. Pre-order here or here

1) Midnight Headlights - A lot of this song came to me on a plane journey home from tour, I love it when that happens. The verse was written but I didn't have a chorus for it and then it started writing itself in my head. I got off that plane feeling pretty excited and as soon as the whole band played it, it was clear it should open the album.

2) Crawling Up A Landslide - This wasn’t meant to be country-ish at all but it just wasn't sounding right in the style we were trying to play it in. It was originally meant to be a big kind of power pop thing but it wasn't working. As soon as Joel started drumming with that country lilt the whole song just instantly fell into place. We also have the amazing Jason Walker playing lapsteel on this track.

3) Dark Stands Over - My brother Joel came up with the majority of this one. It was a great little co-write. He showed me the idea he had for the verse and chorus and I was into it, it all really fell into place when we decided to go into half time in the second chorus. Lyrically the song is about overcoming hardships and dark times and how good it feels to step back into the sun.

4) Dead In A Dream - I guess one of the most straight up pop moments on the record. This song came really quickly and kind of wrote itself. It was written very late one night when I was feeling a bit out of sorts and kinda disconnected from everything. I looked at the guitar and said 'give me the good stuff' and this song came.

5) Our Love - Probably the most uplifting song I think I've ever written. Really. It features the lovely Holly Throsby in the choruses. Lyrically it's a straight up celebration of love. At first I thought the chorus was almost to simple but as soon as everyone started singing harmonies and we added the fiddle and distorted guitar it felt great. This one’s really fun to play live.

6) So Save Me - Another fun live one, this was another co write with my bro. I guess lyrically it basically sounds like a break up song, but it's also about letting go of bad habits. I really like the harmonies the guys do in the choruses.

7) Golden Age - Probably the quickest song to write on the album, it all just fell into place really quickly. It's basically about going through hardships to get to the good stuff (seems to be a recurring theme on this album!). The chorus feels really good to play live. I really like the groove in the second verse when the band kicks in.

8) Lotus Skies - This is one of my faves, as soon as we came up with it we could hear that horn intro, Lotus Skies to me is kind of a place, kind of a woman, kind of some dated 70's style hotel In the Caribbean. Very 50's inspired. I often think of adventure and romance on a deserted island while I sing this song.

9) Heart Skipped Town - This song to me has a bit of a McCartney-ish horn line in the chorus that I like. I love Dan Pash's guitar solo as well. It's a very straight forward pop song really, I like the way our producer Scott Horscroft put the distortion on the bass guitar. It really helps drive the song along.

10) Fought With The Devil - To me this song has a certain Doors-ness about it – there’s a bit of drama in it. I like the way the violin track kind of bookends the song.

11) Crowded Space - My bro wrote the majority of this one. I really like the simplicity and directness of the song. Once again we had the pleasure of having Jason Walker on lapsteel for this track.

12) None Shall Pass - Our big rock out track! I was stoked that this was written just before we went into the studio. It immediately felt like it should close the album. I find rock songs the hardest to write so when J showed us this riff and I started putting a melody to it I was thrilled!