"A burning, angsty folk-rock masterpiece." - Willamette Week

"Red Tornado is a brilliantly perfect example of how the dark side of life can make for a fantastically depressing album." - Ink 19

"A damn fine record from an artist who has truly found his voice." - CD Baby

"Shimmers with compelling acoustic riffs." - Harp Magazine

"In a world where singer/songwriter types are a dime a dozen, this talented chap stands out from the crowd." - Big Takeover

"A sort of outlaw-folk... Marble's got rhythm, attitude and excellent songwriting skills." – West Coast Performer

Leigh Marble plays "Lucky Bastards" on the Mastan Music Hour podcast:

With his second solo album, Marble set out to make an album with more dirt, sweat, and human interaction than its predecessor, "Peep". All of which he did with Red Tornado.

"Red Tornado" is a descriptor of the emotional state that each of these songs came out of, whether it be depression, frustration, or high anxiety – the common thread running through this album.

Whether it’s album opener "Lucky Bastards", a song about ambition and poisonous envy, the American dream vexed to nightmare by the vapidity of pat aphorisms, or "On Your Way", a kiss-off song to a friend full of high ideals and low standards. To "Salt In the Would", a song Marble describes as "a memoriam to a number of slow-suicide cases I’ve known in Portland. Frustrated artists that forget their beauty and drink themselves to death", Marble pulls no emotional punches in his pursuit to speak his mind and let his voice be heard.

"I took chances letting more people into the creative process. Working with two musicians in the band now (keyboard maestro Ben Macy and feral drummerkind Jason Russell), working with some outside engineers for tracking. I had a couple key overdub sessions with friends Peter Broderick (Horsefeathers) on violin and Mike Apinyakul (Shoeshine Blue) on guitar, both of which helped push songs in a new direction."

Marble also admits he was more sonically adventurous this time around. He tracked drums with more distortion from the beginning. He stacked up guitars more than he had in the past. And he tried to follow what each song was asking for, rather than relying on his preconceptions of what the arrangements were going to be. This less rigid, more organic approach resulted in a more vibrant expression of his vision.

"I was willing to lay some stuff down, like a rock record, and not mess with it by polishing it," states Marble. "I left the rough edges in this time."

Red Tornado was recorded at Leigh's Fishboy Studios, and was mixed by Jeff Stuart Saltzman.