Studio Electrophonique

Studio Electrophonique is the solo project of singer-songwriter James Leesley, a distinctive voice on Sheffield’s independent scene. He released his self-titled debut album late last year on the Parisian label Valley of Eyes Records, produced by Simon Tong (The Verve, The Good, The Bad and The Queen, The Magnetic North).

This debut album grew out of a chance meeting between Leesley and Tong that blossomed into a friendship nourished by their shared love of The Velvet Underground, The Kinks’ Something Else, the novels of Barry Hines, the songs of Jake Thackray, Blackpool’s North Pier and impromptu darts games in an attic. In Tong’s London studio, an arsenal of vintage guitars and Casio keyboards (organ mode engaged) enriched the fragments of lyrics Leesley had been scribbling on the backs of bus tickets and betting slips. The result is an eleven-track album where feeling emerges from modest details.

Solitude, desire, beauty and loss permeate these everyday scenes: a misunderstanding over tea and scrambled eggs, raindrops on the fogged-up window of a bus’s upper deck, or the faded charm of a low-budget seaside escape. Recorded to Tascam tape, this beguiling debut album carries the listener into an intimate, warm and dreamlike world.