If you remember Be Nice, the 2008 debut from Leeny and Steve, you’ll be interested to learn that Leeny has swapped partners — she’s now half of Leeny and Tamara — and undergone a huge sonic upgrade for the recently released Sharing the Same Stars.

Stars boasts some sharp production (and instrumental work) from Art Hays, who gives these songs a more layered, fleshed-out feel than their predecessors — and the songs themselves are a little more advanced, too: For example, instead of dealing with the effects of soiling one’s diaper (Be Nice‘s “Stinky Diaper”), we get a number about having to hold it long enough to get to a bathroom (the appropriately titled “Hold It”). Just a little more grown up, though; Be Nice hearkened back to the simple, homespun pleasures of the kids’ music of yesteryear, and Stars covers similar lyrical ground. Some children’s albums try to appeal to adults and pre-teens as strongly as younger kids, but Leeny and Tamara are pretty much all about the tykes. There’s nothing wrong with that, it’s just something you should know before you pop Sharing the Same Stars into the family CD player. Continue reading →