Richard Gehr of The Village described "Even Sleepers": “Boston chanteuse Callahan’s wonderful songs sound as though they’d been compiled from half a dozen brilliant European art films”.

Film and lit analogies abound for “Even Sleepers”, with comparisons from David Lynch (Tasty Fanzine UK), to Simone de Beauvoir (Left of the Dial) but what stands out in every review is an appreciation of her voice: “a lovely delicate voice, with delivery that evokes old Europe and bossa nova” (Boston Globe). The Boston Herald gave it a top 10 jazz and world album nod in 2003.

"Her melodies, elegant and menacing, suggest true late night."
Nina MacLaughlin, The Boston Phoenix

"Callahan's delicately precise voice can come across as both otherworldly and earthy within the span of a single song, and the spare arrangements by rock musician Shaun Wolf Wortis highlight influences as disparate as tango, fado and cabaret."
Bob Young, The Boston Herald



“Listening to Leah … is like reading one of Simone de Beauvoir’s fictional works. Quirky and whimsical elements compose the intriguing atmosphere while dark seriousness drives the work from deep within”. Left of the Dial


“There's a restrained weirdness floating under the surface … something along the lines of Nick Cave or even Foetus. That's easy to think, because she's singing about vampires and death and destruction. Of course, when you have a great singing voice, you can get away with just about anything.” Mundane Sounds

"Callahan...whose career fronting such luminaries as Turkish Delight and Betwixt always betrayed, beyond the art-damaged howl of the music of these groups, a theatrical sensibility that was at once refined and unhinged."
Daniel Brockman, The Weekly Dig

"Leah Callahan's solo debut is brief, but marvellous." Anna Maria Stjärnell, Luna Kafe

"Beautiful, odd, and haunting solo effort mixing exotic sounds like Bossa Nova and Klesmer in a purely acoustic environment. Guitar is the center piece, with other instruments filling out the sound splendedly, making this a lush and highly organic recording. It's great late night listening - soft but prickly, and loaded with quirk." TweeKitten

"Leah's been in a few Boston-based indie-rock bands since the '90s, but this solo album is something else altogether. Hard to describe, really. Maybe a little like Sam Phillips' last few records, but more unconventional.
This is one of my favorite female singer/songwriter albums, and if you know me, you know I've heard a lot of 'em (haha). So that's high praise. Another unusual thing about this album: it's under 23 minutes in length, but it's perfect just as it is." Planbee

"Leah Callahan has a voice that commands attention." Paula E. Kirman, Inside World Music

"I have never ever and I mean never heard anything like this before and that is always and I mean always a good thing! " Rebelation Zine

"At first listen, this is the reincarnation of Mary 'Those Were The Days' Hopkins, complete with accordion. Like Miss Hopkins, Leah Callahan has a great voice, but Leah's songwriting is what set's her apart from the typical songwriter-types that you imagine at coffee houses everywhere. Leah's songs come off as being unpretentious, yet meaningful as if they hold a secret that she's not telling. The songs are "out-of-time" with today's music, yet somehow fit. The sparse arrangements seem to add to the wistful, slight melancholy nature of Leah's songs. Whether or not this is your type of music, Leah's music somehow draws you in..." Earcandy Mag


"There is absolutely no doubt that Leah Callahan is a very talented singer-songwriter. The evidence is on every track of Even Sleepers. Her vocal styling changes maybe two or three times during this nine song disk, first bringing to mind an authentic hybrid of Mary Hopkins and Rickie Lee Jones, then during the definite highlight of the album, “Shocking Pink”, she sings much like Melanie circa 1971 Brand New Key era. Leah finishes with a Suzanne Vega style a cappella rendition on ‘Strip Mall'"- South of Mainstream

"Wrapping history within innovation, Boston-based singer Leah Callahan ended her stint with the post-modern gypsies Betwixt to go solo with, “Even Sleepers,” a disc that mingles the vintage vibes of Balkan vaudeville and Kurt Weil for artsongs and acoustic cabaret."
Maximum Ink

"Leah Callahan is one of the best and most original female singer songwriter albums I've heard all year...Here's wishing that Leah Callahan gets to keep doing exactly what she wants -- confounding fashion, expectations and those annoying "sounds like" comparisons. This is great stuff, pure communication wrapped in art, and we could use much more like it."
Jennifer Kelly, Splendid E-zine

"singer Leah Callahan heard the word 'chanteuse' so often that she finally decided to live up to it...On stage, she’s covered both the Liza Minnelli number "Mein Herr" and the Velvets’ "I’ll Be Your Mirror," and the nine originals on her disc come from a similar place, elegant on the surface, a little dangerous underneath."
Brett Milano, The Boston Phoenix

"This experienced songstress has been compared to – and most likely influenced by – both Tom Waits and Edith Piaf. Her songs, filled with pluckish acoustic guitar, accordion, unique vocal stylings, evoke Parisian nightlife of yesteryear; a picturesque landscape that could have been dreamt by Yann Tiersen himself."
Left of the Dial

"Okay you heard it hear first, Leah Callahan is the next big thing. “Even Sleepers” is a quirky indie rock number led by the imaginative and deeply impressive Leah Callahan. Since she wrote the entire album a cappella you’d figure that the vocals were good but no one would expect them to be THIS good...Truly one of the most brilliant albums that I’ve ever had the pleasure to listen to. "
Smother
Reviews for Leah's Previous projects, inclusing Turkish Delight and Betwixt:

"Leah Callahan has been in some of Boston’s finest, most memorably skewed pop ensembles —from the expressionistic, strangely optimistic No-Wavers Turkish Delight through to the jazzier Betwixt (who, in addition to their own loopy originals, did a mean Lee Hazlewood cover) and her own, charmingly eclectic solo material. Ever enterprising, in-between bands Callahan drew on her attraction to theatrical outsiders to create, aided by co-conspirator Jonathan Vincent, a ribald reworking of Genet’s The Maids that had its Boston premiere at notorious drag bar Jacques’."

"Callahan’s uplifting, deceptively sweet sing-song vocals —which rush headlong with a sense of wide-eyed wonder—temper the world-wearied tone of the lyrics, which deal eloquently with loss, regret, and the complicated business of living in the world."
Andrea Feldman, Warped Reality


“Frankly, any group with Leah Callahan as its vocalist already has a step up on the competition…she’s as bewitching as ever…Callahan jumps octaves, whispers and purrs, wails…well she does just what the song needs.” – Ken Capobianco, Boston Tab

“Former Turkish Delight chanteuse Leah Callahan…warm and cuddly one minute and messing with your head the next… There’s a playful imagination at work: Callahan can turn a pop hook with the best, but she’s likely to save them for the band’s wilder instrumental moments.” – Brett Milano, Boston Phoenix

“These songs are disciplined without sounding sterile…Callahan’s lyrical approach is both thought provoking and fresh…She has a mischievous flair and a spirituality known to few.” – Alan Levesque, The Northeast Performer

“Leah’s vocals contain the same passion and personality of Siouxsie Sioux and have a strange Old World quality to them.” – Rev. Keith Harris, The Northeast Performer

“From… freeform jazzy funk to seductive torch singing…to catchy drone and vocals that merge the flatness of Kim Gordon and the bratty growl of Kat Bjelland…Turkish Delight puts a complex spin on their indie influences…When they aren’t afraid to take chances, they give new hope for indie rock.” (5 Finger Review) --Laura Demarco, Alternative Press

“Callahan is a great foil for the rest of the band, grabbing attention with a tiny inflection and whispering as the instrumentalists parts explode.” (Jackpot Review) – Douglas Wolk, CMJ

“Turkish Delight…brought neurotic bizarritude to new heights…an elastic bassline lurched and jumped while an electric can made strange noises, and on top of that lay bored sounding female sing-speak…Rarely has a song remained so delightfully inexplicable after repeated listenings.” – David Jarman, CMJ