Like pretty party-girls dressed in simple, understated garb, they're unlikely to prompt dancing on tables, but instead beckon close conversation in a kitchen corner.
Singer-songwriter for Dunedin quartet the Alpha State, McLeod chuckles when asked if his own personality is similar to the introspective songs that dot the group's debut album Lines.
And in the laughter lies the answer: no. Well, at least, he doesn't think so. Lines has been a while in the making.
Thus its very release (it will be launched at Backstage, Dunedin, next Friday, November 21) holds a celebratory note.
"In 2005, I was working at the Dunedin Rock Shop. I had bunch of songs I'd written and had just broken up with my previous band, Alpha Cast, and was just kicking around a few song ideas, playing them to my workmates, including drummer Rob Falconer and bass player Rob Murphy," McLeod explains.
Guitarist Phil Patrick joined the fray and the four embarked on two separate recording sessions in 2006 and 2007, the second of which provided much of the material that appears on Lines.
Despite the album's long gestation, McLeod is happy with the result.
"I think the songs all fit quite well together. It is obviously all the same musicians and the songs were all written around the same period. It's a great snapshot of how things were a year or two ago.
"There is lots of new stuff that we play live now and we have almost finished an EP which, in some ways, I'm almost more excited about because it is fresher. But, at the same time, I'm really proud of that set of songs. I think it is a good little album."
The bulk of the album was recorded by Falconer in his Clockwork Studios set-up.
Access to quality microphones and other equipment combined with a simple ethos ("We wanted it to sound like a band playing in a room") lends the album an in-your-face honesty, a result also of technological constraints.
"We were using an old computer which couldn't handle it. There would be a point where you had recorded 16 channels and it just couldn't take any more. That was kind of nice because there are so many albums now that . . . sound sort of similar in their production. It was nice that we didn't alter the sound too much."
The bedrock of the album is provided by acoustic guitar, reflecting McLeod's tastes at the time: Americana, alt-country, folk and other strains flicker between the shadows and stabs of light.
There is also a touch of Dunedin songwriter David Kilgour's solo work, particularly in the breezy Summer Sun.
"I'm a big fan of David Kilgour," McLeod confirms.
"I listen to a lot of his music. Also, I was listening to a lot of alt-country around the time I was writing the songs so those influences carried through.
"I'm a bit of a sucker for minor chords. I seem to listen to quite a lot of melancholic music. I guess Summer Sun is a bit more of a major-chord song, but there are a lot of minor chords going on."
The Alpha State line-up has undergone some changes of late, with guitarist Dan Wysockyi taking over from Patrick and Stephen Stedman replacing Murphy on bass.
The line-up remains fluid, necessitated by other commitments.
Falconer plays drums in at least four other bands while all four also work.
"Getting away to play is a challenge so we've done all kinds of things," says McLeod, who is promotions and production manager for Radio One.
"I did a bunch of shows solo under the Alpha State name in Auckland and Wellington a few months ago.
Me and Stephen have done quite a few shows as a two-piece; we've done a few shows as a three-piece with Dan as well.
"We played with [viola player] Alan Starrett and opened for [American alt-country legend] Howe Gelb the other week. It was awesome to play at Sammy's and to play for Howe Gelb was a real honour.
"We hope to finish the EP over summer, but it would be good to get out there and give the album a bit of a push."
Lines has been released by Christchurch record label Failsafe. McLeod has known label boss Rob Mayes since he was a teenager.
Having shopped the album to a few labels, and had more than a few funding applications rejected over the years, McLeod chose to go with someone he knew.
"Rob said, 'Come on, it's getting old - you've got to put it out now'. I'm pretty busy so it was a case of someone else putting it out, promoting it and putting money up-front to do that. It just took it out of our hands."
As to the future, McLeod says he plans to keep chipping away and make more music.
He goes through phases with his songwriting; sometimes he's busy, sometimes not.
"I'd like to be more prolific but it's hard when you work a full-time job. Ideally, I'd love to be in a situation like David Kilgour where you get up most mornings and if the surf's all right, you go to the beach and, if not, you pick up a guitar."
