Kin Leonn - Commune (2018)

“In endless patience, the days abide. They write themselves: blue flourish and tender instinct. They are haunts and reveries and all manner of dwelling. They are seconds; they are years. They are forevermore.”

“Commune” is the debut full-length album by Singapore born, London-based producer, composer, electronic artist and pianist, Kin Leonn. Heralding a new era of accomplished young musicians in Singapore, Kin Leonnʼs transportive music projects as founding member of electronic act ‘midstʼ, and his genre-melding solo DJ sets, have instituted him as an in-demand music presence in the cityʼs thriving electronic underground.

Affectionately known by peers as the “ambient boy from Singapore”, Kin Leonnʼs arresting dream-music in “Commune” is sourced from a well of preconscious phrases, an evocative meditation of sorts - perhaps one that transmutes the city dross into a peaceful self-discovery in search of spiritual unity.

“Commune” is an atmospheric work mostly recorded using upright piano, reverb-soaked guitar, and synthesisers, with altered virtual instruments and other digital elements added later to create a tension between the organic and the synthetic. The moods are contemplative and the melancholy, almost all- pervasive. However, within this framework, Kin Leonn explores as much ground as he can, from sweeping ambient bliss to understated piano etudes.

Illustrative song titles like “Shinrin-yoku” and “Somewhere” evoke inviting landscapes of reflection and resonance. The more electronic, rhythm-oriented cuts - particularly twin centerpieces “Visionary” and “There were days” - find common cause with the producerʼs approach of balancing programmed and improvised music, before dissolving into a liberating resolution of harmonics and noise. Quieter moments in “Desire #9” and “Detached” also stun with their hypnotic beauty and spaciousness, revealing the artistʼs cinematically-attuned approach.

This very sense of fluidity and non-structure gives the record its shape-shifting identity, but across 10 songs and 43 minutes, “Commune” still functions as a single, cohesive piece of music. Itʼs easy to get lost in the album and it's a pleasantly disorienting sensation. In the closing piano track, “Nightlight” serves as the coda for the whole album, showing that Kin Leonnʼs strength as a musician isnʼt all about production complexity, but in the emotional nuance he is able to coax from his instruments with sure instinct and enormous sensitivity.

“Commune” will be available on transparent 180g LP, CD and digital formats, with artwork by Jonathan Yong-Ern Lim. This record is mastered and cut by Francesco Donadello at Calyx Mastering in Berlin, Germany