ALBUM REVIEW: One Hand On The Steering Wheel The Other Sewing A Garden – Ada Lea

ADA LEA returns with her second full length in the wake of the success of What We Say In Private, an emotive and heart-wrenching break up album. Now, with One Hand On The Steering Wheel The Other Sewing A Garden, she melds her introspective, precise songwriting with imagery of Montreal city living in order to create a personal postcard, a timestamp of what her life means at this moment in time – to her and to those around her.

The dreamlike atmosphere of the album peaks on a song like Saltspring, in which the music is slowly distorted beneath an airy vocal and sensory-filled still life images of Montreal. The album comes across as self-indulgent but in a truly interesting way; we see the inner workings of a mind which overthinks and worries, but still manages to see the bigger picture and never fails to make perceptive comments on life itself.

Life is not all that varied, however. Lea relies a little too much on the hazy romanticism of parties and unrequited love, to the extent that the album often comes across a little short-sighted in its adolescent ambitions. 

The song Backyard actually tackles this notion of short-sightedness (extra points for self awareness), as Lea interrogates her temptation to stay in one place for her whole life, tying it to the childhood rules of playing safely in your backyard. It’s one of the biggest lyrical triumphs of the album, capturing the essence of childhood as both freedom and restriction. Set to pizzicato strings and soft guitar parts, it’s an understated highlight.

Romanticising the small moments in life is something ADA LEA excels at, throughout this album and her previous effort. It’s both a strength and a weakness; her ambitions are often set lower than one might expect, but you can bet your bottom dollar she’ll explore those miniscule life moments until every inch has been analysed. It’s quietly neurotic and calmly devastating, introverted and yet still full of determination and heart-bearing honesty. 

Rating: 7/10

One Hand On The Steering Wheel The Other Sewing A Garden is set for release on September 24th via Saddle Creek.

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