Lleo hasn’t performed yet, but they already seem at home in one of music’s most storied rooms. We meet just before their set at Sound Bite’s official launch party with Johnnie Walker Black Label. Fresh off tour, Lleo is settled rather than nervous — present, talkative and visibly buzzing to get on stage. As partygoers will soon see, there is a quiet tension at the centre of Lleo’s work. On first glance, they carry a grunge-leaning edge — blue-blonde hair and smudged eyeliner — that hints at distortion and noise. But the songs themselves move differently. What Lleo calls “bipolar pop” is bright and melodic, holding the highest highs and lowest lows in the same breath. It sounds buoyant, but it lands close to the chest.
That closeness carries through to Lleo’s writing. The ‘i love a girl’ singer pulls apart identity, mental health and queerness without turning any of it into spectacle. The songs are open without being heavy-handed, funny without dodging discomfort and designed to be felt before they’re overthought. Tonight’s set pulls from across their catalogue, including ‘nice to know u’ and ‘serotonin’, both sharpened by time on the road. But before the guests, who are just starting to queue outside, get to hear Lleo’s songs, we sit down for a quick-fire chat, touching on pre-show habits, favourite lyrics and the quieter kind of persistence that keeps artists moving forward.
Writer Roisin Teeling
Image Credits @emshootsbands, @augustini.photo
