Review: Leather Lungs

Kiwi-Australian drag queen Jason Chasland, aka Leather Lungs, brings their 50-minute set of powerhouse anthems to the House of Oz, in a colourful explosion of music and comedy. Higher Love is a celebration of survival and self-love, by a performer who tackles adversity with humour.  

The average male singing voice has the range of two octaves. With a voice spanning four, Chasland, self-proclaimed ‘master of falsetto and stiletto’, knows they can sing and have created a show that relies heavily on their voice.  Higher Love sees them belt out renditions of songs by ABBA, Whitney Houston and Queen, using them to illustrate significant events and relationships in their life. They tell the audience in brief snippets about an abusive relationship they eventually got out of, but they prefer to let the music do the talking and they don’t want your pity. They’re here to reclaim their life through song and invite us all to sing along.

Chasland successfully connects with the audience, creating an inclusive atmosphere with banter and jokes, and they seem genuinely moved by the response they get, despite their voice not being the best tonight. This is possibly due to the jet lag they mention more than once and it results in the show being somewhat lacklustre at points, but it’s fun and uplifting nonetheless, and Chasland’s voice is still twice as good as the average male’s.