British electronic music producer Leif Knowles creates lush, emotive music ranging from the deep, smooth house of his 2013 debut Dinas Oleu to the warm, soothing ambient of 2019's Loom Dream.
Born in Barmouth, Wales and brought up by a musician father who played the Celtic harp and the guitar -- which he taught his son -- Leif grew up with a love of music, playing in guitar bands in high school. Through the radio, he was introduced to electronic acts such as Tricky and the Orb, before discovering house and techno through free outdoor raves in the forest. He began DJ'ing and producing his own music, finally releasing his first tracks of jiggy, funky house on the various-artists EP Mindtours 06. He became part of a loose scene of other Welsh house artists who had also grown up on the forest party circuit, including Steevio, Sam Watson, and particularly Tom Ellis, a close friend with whom he put out numerous collaborative releases on their co-owned Trimsound label. Owing to his formative experiences, his music was inspired by a fusion of the natural world and the dancefloor, and he incorporated organic elements such as guitar, bass, and percussion into a sound produced using a fairly simple setup of computer and synth. Over the next few years he churned out a prodigious volume of singles on labels such as Liebe*Detail, Sudden Drop, Fina, Boe, Thinner, and Fear of Flying. This last label released his debut album Dinas Oleu (Welsh for "enlightened city") in 2013; it had a deep, smooth house vibe. Later he launched his own label, Until My Heart Stops, on which he issued his 2015 sophomore effort Taraxacum, which had a lusher, more downtempo house sound. 2019's Loom Dream, on Whities, was quite different, a warm, soothing, ambient techno journey very much indebted to nature, with all its tracks named after flowers. ~ John D. Buchanan
Hometown
Barmouth, Gwynedd, Wales
Genre
Dance
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