With over 250 million career streams following early tracks such as ‘Tired Of Talking’ and ‘Think About You’, a renowned performance on ‘The Late Late Show with James Corden’ and widespread critical acclaim, LÉON is set to make a major breakthrough. With a style that evokes dreamy Sixties Laurel Canyon songcraft and modern Nordic pop, the Swedish songstress will release her self-titled debut album on March 1st via her own LÉON Recordings imprint on BMG.
The album captures LÉON’s soaring vocal gift, a heady, emotionally resonant mix of powerhouse soul and retro spirit. Delving further reveals an artist with a songwriting gift that simmers with personality. She’s delicate, but dominant; reserved, but charismatic; instinctual, yet calculated; sensitive, but sarcastically funny.
Enlisting the talents of production duo ELECTRIC to produce the bulk of the album, LÉON acted as an arranger in the studio, directing elements of the instrumentation and even performing keys and analogue synths.
“I knew exactly what I wanted,”she explains. “I hear certain instruments in my head and bring in those influences. In the past, one song was pop-electronic, while another was soul. This time, I really honed in on a sound by working alongside just a handful of people. It’s something I’ve had in my head forever, but didn’t bring to life until now. This cycle is very colourful. It’s different and bright.”
To celebrate the album’s announcement, LÉON also shares the brand new single ‘You And I’. It swirls between the songcraft tradition of vintage soul and the exuberance of modernist disco as she explores a relationship that faces an uncertain future. Building on her previous success, ‘You And I’ has already been added on 26 of Spotify’s international New Music Friday playlists, including the UK.
The track’s elegant accompanying video was directed by Wendy McColm, who won the Slamdance Spirit Award for her debut full-length feature film ‘Birds Without Feathers’.
‘You And I’ is the third track to preview the album’s release after ‘Baby Don’t Talk’ and ‘Falling’. All three songs offer listeners an exciting glimpse of what’s to come as the young musician lines up an empowering and uncompromised body of work. She also featured on ‘Want You Back’, the recent single from electro-pop hitmakers Grey (‘The Middle’, ‘Starving’).
Next month will see LÉONcommence the opening leg of her ‘You And I’ world tour, which includes a London show at the Islington Assembly Hall on April 8th. She’ll then embark upon a 20-date North American tour. Please see www.itsleonmusic.com for a full list of dates and ticket information.
The album tracklisting is:
1. ‘Lost Time’
2. ‘Falling’
3. ‘Hope Is A Heartache’
4. ‘Come Home To Me’
5. ‘Baby Don’t Talk’
6. ‘Better In The Dark’
7. ‘Cruel To Care (Voice Memo)’
8. ‘Pink’
9. ‘What You Said’
10. ‘You And I’