Levi Kreis has a story to tell. Behind the rock-boy persona and the pounding guitar riffs lies a gay man that has had to struggle to find himself all whilst living under the pressure of his Christian faith. Sound difficult? We can only imagine. Levi’s journey of self discovery, religion reducing, family amends and finding his ideal partner are beautifully told on his second album entitled ‘The Gospel According to Levi’.
We have mentioned Levi once already on Electroqueer, but since then, we have become deeply fascinated by his songs and random acting gigs that he has taken on over the years. Rock-boy actor? Well yes. Levi has appeared in the US version of The Apprentice, starred opposite Matthew McConaughey in ‘Frailty’ (which we will now watch again on DVD) and even played ‘Roger’ in the touring version of ‘Rent’ (Electroqueer’s favourite musical of all time). He is also starring in the upcoming version of a film called ‘The Southern Baptist Sissies’ which we will wait for with curious anticipation.
In listening to Levi’s album, we were quite surprised that we actually liked it. A rock/pop album is something that we usually wouldn’t pay too much attention to as we prefer the electronic beats, as you know, but lyrically – we found it to be very striking, in-your-face poetic storytelling. The first half of the album deals with Levi’s struggle in questioning his religion and the challenge of trying to denounce his homosexuality by checking himself into Exodus International. Towards the middle of the album you find Levi accepting himself and getting to grips with stagnant relationships as sung about in ‘Same Ol Me’. On ‘With You’ Levi meets that special man (whom we hear looks like the plumber guy from Desperate Housewives). The beautiful ballad ‘We’re Okay’ touches on rekindling his broken relationship with his mother – something that a lot of gay men have to go through in life.
It’s been a long time since an album has told a story so well and if you appreciate lyrically strong albums, go pick up your copy of ‘The Gospel According To Levi’ which is available on iTunes.
More Levi Kreis:
Levi Kreis MySpace
Levi gets the Christians all hot under the collar
Levi Kreis Official Website