Manchester-based singer-songwriter and pianist Sara Leanne makes a quietly assured debut with Uprooted, a four-track EP shaped by loss, heartbreak, friendship and the restorative pull of music. Rather than dressing its themes in unnecessary production, the record places songwriting at the forefront, drawing from folk, blues, soul and the classic singer-songwriter tradition to create something warm, intimate and distinctly human.
Opening with Song From Your Daughter, Leanne establishes the emotional weight of the project through a piano-led tribute to her late father. It is an unguarded introduction, allowing the space around her vocal and piano playing to carry much of the song’s grief without overstatement. The result feels less like a conventional tribute and more like a personal act of processing, setting the reflective tone that runs through the rest of Uprooted.
Take Me As I Am moves into the aftermath of heartbreak, its stripped-back piano and vocal arrangement recalling the directness of 1970s singer-songwriters. There is a sense of vulnerability in its search for something healthier beyond a damaging relationship, while Loved Into Something New shifts the mood towards blues-rock and soft-rock, turning its attention to the friendships that provide stability when everything else feels uncertain. Breathe closes the EP on a more atmospheric note, with folk textures, piano from Andrew Jones and guitar from Alex Hillman giving Leanne’s voice a spacious setting in which to linger.
Across Uprooted, Leanne demonstrates an understanding of restraint that serves these songs particularly well. Her background as a touring musician is evident in the confidence of the performances, but the EP never feels overly polished or detached from its subject matter. Produced and mixed by Andrew Jones and recorded by Matt Butler at Yellow Shark Studios, the project has a warmth that complements its songwriting, while Leanne’s connection to Manchester and the musical community she has built there gives the record a clear sense of place. Uprooted is ultimately a debut rooted in change, but its strongest quality is how naturally Leanne turns that uncertainty into songs that feel enduring rather than fleeting.