Portugal hailing, UK based singer-songwriter leo. is an artist building a tight-knit and committed community around his music. Acoustic and indie pop both informing his releases, his lyricism is raw and relatable, with his classical training giving us rich and harmonious compositions.
From heartbreaking to glowing, leo.’s latest album ‘a new one’ is ambitious in its themes and its momentousness. Twinkling melodies and emotional lyricism transport you to a place of wistful melancholy. Whether the instrumentation is expansive or simple, leo. brings incredibly angelic harmonies with layers of vocals that soar above all else. The addition of orchestral instrumentation takes this far beyond the standard for acoustic music, leaving us with what a sense of rising feelings to climactic outbursts track after track. Ambitious? Yes. But executed to perfection by the Leeds-based artist.
Explaining the project, leo. says, “‘a new one’ feels more like a piece of my soul than anything I’ve done. I wrote these songs over the course of a year and they detail the process of learning to love again as I was going through it - ultimately in a healthier way, but not without its setbacks. More than that, I can see my growth as a person over the last year in these songs. After writing all 10, and using some material I had written way back, I took them to Ed Allen around this time last September. After months of recording, re-recording, arranging, trying new things out, trying old things out, crying, screaming, etc., we finally finished my most ambitious project so far - and I’m really proud of it. I’ve always loved the idea of telling stories with my music, and with these tracks, videos, artwork, and lovely interactions with my audience, I can tell a story that’s important to me, and might be important to a lot of other people too.”