Lacey Sturm: Post-Flyleaf, a Dazzling Return
There is a striking intensity in the singing voice of Lacey Sturm that is both captivating and instantly memorable. And for a while there it was sadly absent.
But no more.
Sturm, formerly Lacey Mosley, first captured our attention a decade ago in Flyleaf–the platinum selling, Texas hard rock band that connected commercially with their self-titled debut LP. When the singer departed in 2012 and had two children while Flyleaf carried on with a new vocalist, it seemed a possibility we’d not hear from her again.
But that’s not the case at all, as her new solo album Life Screams amply illustrates.
Photo: Lisa Aileen Dragani
A superb set that sonically carries on from her work with Flyleaf, Sturm’s new album offers up a compelling array of emotional, hard-rocking tracks with just the right amount of edge—the lyrics, the vocals, the unique, tactical screaming bursts—that truly is a whole new thing, but familiar enough to please even the most ardent Flyleaf loyalists. Significantly, that husband/guitarist Josh Sturm is an integral part of the mix now makes Life Screams very much a family affair. To its benefit.
“When I think about Flyleaf it makes me want to cry,” Sturm says fondly of her former band. “Because it was such a special, unique family. And its sound to me came from all five of us together–those four guys having different musical tastes and us all coming together and just having Flyleaf music.”
And now?
“This is really the band members trying to pull out what’s in me. The message is always the most important thing. It’s got to be honest, I’ve got to be able to believe in what I’m doing, and I also have to have some sort of light at the end of the tunnel. Or hope.”
Post-Flyleaf and prior to the new album, Mosley established an additional career as an author and inspirational speaker: She penned 2014’s The Reason: How I Discovered A Life Worth Living and the upcoming The Mystery: Finding True Love In A World Of Broken Lovers, the creation of which ultimately got her out there performing again, she says.
“We actually did go on a little tour, for two months, when I had my second son, Arrow,” says Sturm. “I had written a book and I was just going to go talk about what I wrote–you know, just some kid dealing with depression, suicide, and all these things. So we went on this tour, and it was so much easier than even being at home—I got so much time with my kids, I didn’t have a house to clean, or meals to fix, I just was stuck on this bus with them, and we found creative ways to connect. So I realized, hey maybe I can do this.”
Sturm and her band certainly did it in Yahoo’s Santa Monica studios earlier this month. Two tracks from the Life Screams album, a fascinating chat, and one of the year’s most memorable studio shoots.
If you called it inspirational, you wouldn’t be wrong.
