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Leon Else - River Full of Liquor review
Other | Wednesday 18th June 2014 | Annalisa
Male singer-songwriters are quite a rare breed these days, it seems. With the exception of national treasure Ed Sheeran and baby-faced Sam Smith – who somehow produced one of the dullest albums of the year, Lonely by the Hour - girls truly do run the music industry. Enter Leon Else, who has quite deservedly won the acclaim of the music industry’s key influencers with his soulful new track, River Full of Liquor.
Leon, who is 24 years old and hails from Margate, has penned a beautiful track which somehow blends contemporary R&B and atmospheric pop (atmopop?). His haunting voice makes the song all the more interesting to listen to, as are the lyrics which paint a painful picture of drunken one night stands – “It’s the lifestyle of the sick and shameless, light it up, pour it down ‘till we get brainless” – and to be honest, it is incredibly reminiscent of Drake’s album Nothing is the Same without all the rapping. It has all the elements of a Drake song – dirty yet emotional lyrics, a tinkling piano melody, distorted voices, and a soaring high note in the background. I think it’s safe to say that pop music is in safe hands of Leon Else.
Leon has already garnered the backing of BBC Radio 1’s Zane Lowe, selecting him to play at Big Weekend alongside Katy Perry and Pharrell Williams, and he recently became the new darling of the fashion world, appearing in the esteemed publication GQ who named him most stylish, alongside Kanye West and A$AP Rocky. Not bad at all for a newcomer!
Words by Emily Hier
