16 illinoisentertainer. com september 2025
The cheekily titled“ Don’ t Dick Around with My Heart” spills over with frustration at being trapped in a relationship that seems destined for nowhere. Comparing herself to a grasshopper in an open jar, her character sings that she won’ t escape unless she’ s deliberately set free. Garnett drives the song gently but inexorably as a brushed-snare waltz.“ Naked” still finds beauty in vulnerability but trades the rock edge of its Blink the Brightest incarnation for romantic classical inspiration from Debussy. The song seeks for two lovers to fully drop their guard,“ going out exactly how you came in.”“ Whether You Fall” was a stirring solo piano ballad on 2005’ s Blink the Brightest. Here, the song expands with smoky cocktail jazz textures supported by Bonham’ s full ensemble, while continuing to offer wishes for resilience.“ Whether you fall means nothing at all,” sings Bonham with affection.“ It ' s whether you get up.”“ Safe with Me” isn’ t far afield from the encouragement of“ Whether You Fall.” Colored by harp and string quartet, Bonham sings of providing a judgmentfree haven away from alienation or“ othering” for those who might fear themselves to be too different. Proceeds from the song will benefit The Trevor Project.
Despite the inclusion of the vintage compositions, Sky Too Wide stands as an engaging and invigorated work through beautiful textures that were left unexplored during Bonham’ s early career. Overall, these versions now feel fully realized and definitive. In combination with the fresher fare, the album showcases impressive breadth and maturity as Bonham pushes into a future with no selfimposed stylistic restrictions on any horizon.
– Jeff Elbel
8
LEPER Blood Hymns( Grrr)
The music of veteran Chicago-based goth act Leper is rooted in a compelling contradiction. The dark and eerie sounds will appeal to fans of goth-pop acts including Bauhaus and Siouxsie & the Banshees, but Skot Shaw’ s often-unsettling imagery is carried along an undercurrent of hope and redemption. Call it gothic gospel. The dichotomy inherent to Shaw’ s fusion of styles is clearer than ever on his follow-up to 2019’ s This Next Song is About Death. Blood Hymns reinterprets a dozen songs that will be familiar to most anyone who grew up sitting in a Christian church on Sunday mornings, singing songs from a hymnal slotted into the back of the next pew forward.“ Covered by the Blood” and
“ Washed by the Blood” may be common church fare, but the notions can still seem pretty creepy if they remind you of the blood-drenched character on the movie poster from the 1976 horror classic Carrie. Shaw’ s delivery supports that angle. The fundamental melody of“ Covered by the Blood” remains mostly intact, but Shaw’ s 12-string guitar and resonant baritone are accompanied by a guttural monastic chant. The result is much closer to Bauhaus’“ The Passion of Lovers” than The Collingsworth Family.“ Saved by the Blood” beings with brooding bass and Colleen Davick’ s spectrally fluttering flute before shifting into an ominous tom-tom pattern and a driving Sisters of Mercystyled chorus. Davick’ s flute resurfaces during the mournful interlude“ Life is Blood.”“ Power in the Blood” and“ Nothing but the Blood” are particularly familiar to fans of Southern gospel or anyone else who ever glimpsed a Baptist Hymnal. Here,“ Power in the Blood” is driven by a swinging tom-tom beat a la Adam & the Ants, with Shaw’ s chorus joined by Davick’ s forbidding and steely vocal. The gratitude for saving grace expressed in“ Nothing but the Blood” is
pushed into a melancholy minor key, accompanied by slashing guitar and ominous clouds of synthesizer. The tone suggests a sensitive vampire’ s regret that life can only be maintained through another’ s sacrifice.“ There is a Fountain Filled with Blood” was written in 1772 by William Cowper. The composer couldn’ t have imagined this solemn and spooky inter-