Leo Bhanji: Welcome to His World

Hey Leo, I really liked your EP.

Thanks, man. I appreciate it.

You’re in a unique position right now where you’re getting covered by all these big platforms like Complex and Highsnobiety. People are beginning to notice you but not enough to try and define who you are and put labels on what you’re doing. People are paying attention because you’re doing good work. I wanted to know if you wanted to take some time right now to introduce yourself, your style, and your influences.

I mean, I don’t know if I’m looking forward to getting labeled like that. I really like, about my own work, how low-spec it is. I don’t invest in my equipment that much, sort of by choice at this point. I think that kind of defines what I do, I keep it to just a few tracks, a few channels on a project, things like that. And my influences do the same things in different ways, for different reasons. Someone like Lou Reed would just be writing songs with his guitar. And someone like Zaytoven probably didn’t start out with the best equipment. In the same ways, I feel like I’ve stripped down my sounds to match what I’ve been listening to. I gotta clear my head.

Do you do most of your recording in your own space?

Yeah, at the moment. Historically, yeah. Probably for the foreseeable future. The main thing I do in a studio is get takes down, and with an engineer get the song finished. But I write in my own space and produce them too.

You seem to have a wide range of backgrounds. You were born in LA originally and then spent time in London in the London art scene. I heard that your parents are from different backgrounds, Indian and Armenian. I’m a little bit from those places too so it’s nice to see someone like you doing this sort of music. How do you think all these influences are shaping your sound and your output?

I think with this many influences, it gets to a kind of a mush. I don’t have any particular direction beyond what I’m deciding on in the process of making the choices. I’m culturally omnivorous but you can’t be that too long without wanting to figure out where you fit into it. The way I’ve done that is geographical, around people I know. It’s about what I am and what I do rather than what I make. You know? So the whole music side of my life is done on the instinct of what I’m living, and I just think about what kind of person I want to be and things like that. You know? 

Could you describe your process a little bit? What’s your writing process and how does it get to sound? 

It’s usually the other way around. I usually make a beat first and write into it. I write by talking until I come up with something. I also just make notes out in the world. There’s nothing too direct about it. I go over and over things until I’m happy with them.

It seems like you spend a lot of time in the London Underground Scene and with friends in art programs. How does what others are putting out or learning influence what you’re doing?

Well, I have my own influences which are kinda indelible. So I’m going with the flow of what we’re doing. I definitely like I have my zone now. I’ve got my lane. I guess I’m inspired by my friends, but it feels separate. Everyone’s expectation of me is to just keep doing what I do. To be honest, people think of me as quite secretive just because I don’t feel the need to talk. I also really hate talking about what I’m doing if I want to get it done. If I’m talking I just slow myself down. It’s one of those things where you get overly satisfied with yourself or people’s reaction and you don’t bother to finish the work.

At this point, you have four singles out and your EP isn’t out yet but at this point are you ruminating over the EP, or are you already on the next thing? Where’s your mind at? 

Yeah, I’m on the next thing. With the EP I held it back for a while ‘cause I was signing and I got the best takes I could so I took my time in a way I hadn’t before. I’m proud of the EP but it’s been a while sitting with it. I’m not on that anymore. I have my new demos. All my music’s been on pause because I don’t have anything to write about right now. Which is surprising because it doesn’t usually happen.

What has the lockdown been making you feel and think about? Do you feel like when it’s over you’re going to have something to say?

I don’t know, I just have a narrow path for work. What I process through music, it’s really interpersonal. The lyrics I write are about people. Since I’m not around people directly right now, there’s nothing to write about. When I’m online all the time I don’t have ambiguities to explore with what people say. With text, it’s just talking and I don’t have to consider what they mean because they think it through. All the stuff I would normally be reading into in my life, what people say, what they do, it’s all locked off right now. The only thing I can write about is myself and I haven’t developed that skill. Until this all ends, I won’t be able to write anything down. I’ll make beats until then so I can get back up. 

You were featured on Pollen, the Spotify features playlist, which is amazing. It’s a reach of over a million people. It has the greats like Frank Ocean, Aminé, Yaeji, Lil Sims, Joji, Tyler, the Creator, Princess Nokia, Mac Miller. You’re alongside them on that playlist. How does it feel to be among these people this early in your career? 

Well, that’s music. Even when I was way younger people would randomly put me in playlists with sick artists. I think it made me feel like it wasn’t about me when I make music. You just put the music out and they fit in in their lives. That’s how I feel now. It isn’t really about me. I just make music that fits in somewhere. 

So you’re feeling like you’re becoming a part of people’s tastes at this point? 

Yeah! I hope so. Just producing what they want to hear. I want to create a world that people want to enter and make more of an experience of listening specifically to me. I haven’t done that yet at all, though. I’ve got four songs out. So we’ll get there. It’s going to be complicated because I don’t know what I’ll be making in a year. I’m interested, I follow the development of those artists. I understand how people stake out their lane and work within it for a while and develop their work. All of that has to be natural and I’m not going to be like, ‘Ok, it’s all great now.’ 

Right now it’s hard to know what we’re even doing tomorrow but where do you see the direction of your sound going after departing from the EP? Do you have any plans for your style? 

I think I want to get more electronic, maybe a little more dance sounding. Not high tempo but I’m really into kickdrums now and thinks like that. More abrasive. Brittle sounds. That’s what I’m into now. That definitely comes from the UK underground. 

I watched the music video for ‘Blade of Sound’ a few times and the vibe was very introspective, longing, isolating, a lot of self-awareness. It gave me very Frank Ocean vibes, very Blonde. What were you going for with the video?  

That’s it. My brother just filmed me for a bit and we edited found footage and stuff like that. Some of the found footage I’ve been using for different things for a year. In that way, it was a collection of things that were in my world. Little snails, bacteria shots. I wrote it about a year ago. I was just in the house all the time like I am now. My music was finished. I didn’t have much else to do. In that way, I guess, things haven’t changed. 

What’s next for your scope? You’re reaching a massive audience. Do you plan to keep grinding in the London scene or do you see yourself learning from other scenes, going global? 

As far as going global, that’s kind of necessary. If you look at my Spotify right now it’s not just London. I feel like I’m just growing within one scene. That’s my trajectory anyway. I make music that’s so self-defined, focused on exactly what I want to do. I want to find the scene for myself. I don’t expect it to be a scene of different people but just a niche in the world. That’s where I see myself, not too aligned with any scene particularly. Even the one I’m actually in. I make the music instinctively and wait for it to find an audience instead of making the audience. I don’t think I’m even capable of making things specifically for what anyone wants to hear because of the element of capriciousness.