Producer, DJ and multi-instrumentalist Luke Osborne, aka Leaps, is the latest Goldsmiths alumnus to add to South East London’s rich electronic music legacy. Inspired by Massive Attack, Aphex Twin, Four Tet and BICEP, their distinctively soulful sound blends elements of house, garage and an infectious ’90s futuristic nostalgia, and is already garnering endorsements from BBC Introducing Dance and
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‘Close’ is the first single from the highly anticipated new EP ‘Transcendent’ and their first on the French Unity label. The track weaves dreamy vocals over haunting pianos, hypnotic pads, and open-plan garage, evoking the late-night beat that yearns for connection in an unforgiving urban landscape.
The single demonstrates the particular way of understanding the sound of LEAPS, located at the opposite end of what is commercial, what is generic, what works: what it does is, on the contrary, a kind of unstable magma of pulsations and flashes, of strokes melodic sounds and diffuse textures, pursuing a serene, spiritual, almost ascetic expression. All those languages and influences from which they drew dialogue on this record, creating new, different and highly evolved sound organisms.
The idea that drives this album refers us to one of the crucial attributes of music, and it is its inexhaustible capacity to generate moods that protect us at all times. Its meaning remains in the hands of lovers of electronic music, beyond the dance floor and all hedonism.