Phonotonal
Leon

Leon
Getting Into You

Has it started? Wait a second… Yes! There it is. After what sounds at first like some random notes on a keyboard the acoustic guitar adds the stable rhythm to Leon’s ‘Getting Into You’, which is a perfectly unusual pop song.

Drawing on the spacious sounds of ‘Beautiful Freak’ era Eels and with a touch of Radiohead’s ‘No Surprises’ (ironically, as the song is full of surprises) Leon immediately turn on the charm, creating the crisp sugary coating that you find on the best kind of doughnut – a two day old one that’s sat in the paper bag almost forgotten.

You may already see where I’m going with this, but in exactly the same way as the vintage donut, the discovery of the fella just as you’re in need of a few calories is indeed a great pleasure – in this case that little flicker of warmer weather just as we’re fed up of scraping the ice of our windscreens.

There’s also something else beneath the crusted sugar surface that’s deep, fresh and jammy. In this case, the lyrics provide the flavour to songs that would otherwise just be plain ‘downright catchy’!

If you need more convincing, the warm tones of the vocal are so good, they almost prevent the sing-along chorus from being sing-along by making a run up the octave that makes it difficult for us amateurs to keep up.

‘All I Wanted’ provides a b-side to be proud of, with symphonic proportions and tons of percussional additions and a dirty remix of ‘Getting in to You’ adds a fuzzy third track that, unlike many remixes, is actually worth listening to.

Leon are pumping, slick and deep – so you’ll excuse me if I avoid the use of metaphors or similes in this closing paragraph. Suffice to say, this is tasty soft drink of pop music laced with a lethal dose of serious lyrics, a crispy donut with tasty jam interiors. So eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we hum the song.

Written by Smith on

Stuart 'Saur' Smith was a prolific writer for The Mag throughout the magazine's lifetime. He combined a day job of temporary office jobs in London with a nightlife of trawling the capital's music venues looking for talent. As well as writing about music, he was a session musician who featured on a number of singles in the 90s. Today, Stuart is a Chief Writer for Phonotonal.
Stuart Smith

Discover More Music