ALBUM REVIEW: Léa Sen – ‘LEVELS’

‘Bedroom acts’ have held an interesting place in the past couple of decades. It’s funny we used to see back-to-basics acts starting out in their mates’ mum’s garage (which comprises most musicians, surely), when modern production today only takes learning a few Logic YouTube tutorials or singing into an iPhone. When it’s done right at least; if it’s that easy I’d have 30 dreadful eponymous albums on a self-managed Bandcamp page. I digress, and turn back toward Léa Sen, whose ‘bedroom’ DIY aesthetics—tastefully programmed synths, drums, and manipulated vocal snippets—are post-skeleton motion capture gloss for her strong, idiosyncratic vocal-and-guitar approach sitting as snugly with R&B as it is indie sensibilities.

In fact, French-born Sen’s credentials are more befitting of the limelight than dingy coffee-cup filled desks overrun by magazine stacks. The artist’s voice is both confident and soothing in equal measure, providing the memorable basis to Joy Orbison’s better, or the final verse of What If You Hypnotise Me? from the mastercull Sampha’s Lahai record. The influence of her fellow South Londoners certainly feels honed on this debut LEVELS, which exhibits the nuanced merging of studio trickery with home-honed talent, and Sen’s own vinyl collection inspirations ranging from pop princesses, jazz musicians and folky troubadours.

Rather ironically from the track name, lvl 1 – HOME ALONE is an example of her warming sound that sets the stage for what’s to come: a guitar-led base that folds in club-style production. The intro’s warped vocals and booming bass that punctuates when it needs to call back to the laidback electronic music where Sen has made her name, without taking away from the insular feel of lying on a bed and ruminating and “chasing clues” about a crush. lvl 2 – ALIENS sees a more prominent riff made for loops, if not for sounding so organic; a beacon where other soundscapes swirl around. It’s much like its predecessor track in mimicking Sen’s lyricism to its composition, in this case something otherworldly. Towards its end, instrumentals and voices become homogeneous, unearthly sounds, the songwriter vaguely dismissing the titular aliens as untrustworthy people: “When they show you the way, do you listen?”.

Even more gets made of the album’s overall concept throughout the record’s course – the LEVELS comprise various rooms inhabiting snapshots into Sen’s past, present and future. lvl 4 – WATERSMOKE sounds filtered as if the action takes place through the next room’s hollow walls (door closes and knocks included), for instance. It’s an exceedingly strong moment of Sen’s stripped back guitar-focused songcraft (much like lvl 3 – EDGE OF THE MAP)  with echoed vocal takes being almost Phoebe Bridgers-like and wispily suggestive of its refrain, “dehydrate all of our mistakes / watersmoke down the drain”. Then LOBBY BOY, complete with a shuffling syncopated beat throughout, closes the record after cycling through multiple exhausted relationships, “I’ve climbed all the levels, can I try again?”, before leaving the album’s final note just as inconclusive as to what’s to come next, “Is it the end?”.

The ten-track collection is beautifully concise, perhaps to its detriment in having most songs built around a similar setup. But when Sen’s best moments shine, they really do. lvl 5 – GHOSTWRITER is the centrepiece with dreamy leads and an underlying deep low end that’s not far away from the styles of the fabulous ML Buch, although being much its own thing, and delivering an emphatic soul that extends beyond the sound. A similar vibe starts off lvl 7 – LAZY DAYS before morphing away and seeing Sen as the leader of a full band that evokes them playing in a cornfield. Even that country style feels fitting after a couple of listens, as if the singer is taking a break from navigating the complex system of corridors and elevators to find peace in this historical hotel’s patio area.

LEVELS is a simply framed beast, and ultimately does its primary job of introducing Léa Sen’s voice as a solo artist on a clear trajectory from features that rightfully kickstarted her ascent. To which floor it will go remains to be seen, but from this start, it feels like it’ll take off through the building’s glass ceiling.

For fans of: Samia, Nilüfer Yanya, Steve Lacy

‘LEVELS’ by Léa Sen is released on 30th May on Partisan Records.

Words by Elliot Burr