Leah Marlene concert promotes release of new EP

Leah Marlene performs songs from her new EP in the West auditorium last Friday.

Cameron Shandrow, Staff Reporter

Leah Marlene, AKA Normal West senior Leah Grehan, performed a concert to promote her new EP in the NCWHS auditorium last Friday. She performed new songs off of her EP and covers of songs.

The idea of a concert came from Mr. Bierbaum. Leah Marlene said that she “of course was all in. From there we just worked together to figure out the logistics of it all.”

She said that her favorite part of performing live is that there’s “nothing like connecting with people face to face through music. It’s a beautiful thing to feel the energy in the room be directed towards a common purpose. To have the opportunity to capture that attention is truly an honor that I don’t take lightly.”

The band opening for Leah Marlene was made up of West staff members and called themselves “Staff Infection”. The band made up of Mr. Beal on guitar, Mr. Breuning on bass, Mr. Underwood on drums, and Miss Primo on lead vocals. They covered songs from The Beatles and Tom Petty. They closed the set with a cover of “Everything’s Gonna be Alright” by Bob Marley and was sung by special guest Dr. Walker.

Leah’s played her acoustic guitar and was joined by three other musicians. Derry Grehan, Leah’s father, was on lead guitar, Chandler Claps on drums, and Daniel Cavi on bass. Marlene opened with the first song on her EP entitled “Arrow” and closed with the last song on her EP entitled “Is Anybody Listening?”.

Her EP released Friday December 14th. The EP consists of six songs and is entitled “Arrow”. There’s songs that tackle leaving your mark on the world (“Is Anybody LIstening?”), songs about relationships (“The Truth”) and a classic breakup song (“Explain”).

When asked about her favorite song on the EP she said “these songs are always evolving in meaning and some apply more directly to my life than right now than others…I really don’t think I could pick a favorite.”

Leah Marlene also had a merchandise table set up in the lobby. She sold t-shirts, guitar picks with her logo on it and CD copies of her new EP. You can stream “Arrow” on all streaming services or purchase a CD copy from Leah herself.

Cameron Shandrow