The #1 Destination For Indie Music Lovers

This may sound like a crazy thing to write, but my mind works like a giant pop culture Wikipedia. Or like a Google search engine. In short, it operates on keywords. Give me the name of the artist, the song’s title, let me hear 10 seconds of the track and within seconds, I have a perfect web of musical references mapped out in my head. It works something like this: right now I’m thinking about Beyoncé, Leif Ericson, Interpol, Alphaville, Visage and Trent Reznor. I promise you, it makes perfect sense.

The song I was asked to review is the new single by Scottish singer/songwriter Leif Coffield entitled ‘Say My Name’. It was released on February the 5th and received a very good reception. Despite the pandemic and inability to tour, 2020 has been a very successful period for Leif – his music appeared on national airwaves thanks to BBC1, BBC 6 Music and BBC Introducing Scotland. Clash magazine and indie press followed with generous reviews and proper praise. Such a resume always guarantees that I have a solid tune on my hands and it will be a pleasurable or at least, an interesting experience.

Let’s return to my mind map of musical references. The Beyoncé connection is probably the most obvious. ‘Say My Name’, is of course, the title of a massively popular song by Destiny’s Child, a classic of pop/R’nB. Queen Bey is also a long time collaborator of Kanye West, one of Leif’s chief influencers next to Bon Iver, and the somewhat avant-garde Flume, which makes for a really eclectic mix. Kanye’s characteristic heavy dance beat gives Leif’s song a pulsing heart and takes it into pop territory but I would still classify it as an indie track. It’s actually very impressive to take well known elements from the top 40 and entwine them into electro, slightly industrial matrix (spiced by a healthy dose of autotune which I really like)

The two next references are more elusive. Leif’ shares his first name with the legendary Viking explorer, Leif Ericson, and with a song by the American post punk/cold wave band Interpol. The connection is not just in the name, but in the way Leif sings – part muttering, part whispering, part reciting. If Paul Banks ever decided to ditch rock and record a pop song, ‘Say My Name’ could have been something he would have done.

I’m actually fascinated by Leif Coffield’s ability to move between genres with such ease – pop, electronica, alternative rock, dance. On the first glance, those genres have nothing to do with each other, and the song is yet another top 40 track. You have to listen closely to notice the layered composition, the natural progression from one genre to the other. This is why it was so hard to pigeon hole bands such as Alphaville, Visage, Depeche Mode, Pet Shop Boys or Erasure in the 1980’s. They all started as punk acts and then slowly moved towards more commercial electronic music inspired by Kraftwerk. The genre became known as the new wave – a bridge between post punk and a discothèque. ‘Say My Name’ shares a lot in common with ‘Summer in Berlin’ or ‘Fade To Gray’, it’s just dressed in 21st century production and beats.

And where is Trent Reznor fitting into this all, you may ask? Before Reznor became the guru of teenage goths under the moniker of Nine Inch Nails, he was in a electro pop band called The Exotic Birds (with future members of Stabbing Westwards and Filter). Again, at first sight, they looked like a stereotypical 80’s electronic quartet, but underneath, something different was brewing – an untamed, wild streak that soon morphed into what we now call industrial rock. I have the same feeling listening to Leif now like I had back then listening to Exotic Birds. There is something about him that escapes the well defined frames of definitions and terminologies. I don’t know where his music will take him, but I hope it will be a major record label that is not afraid to invest in a talented, genre-bending artist.

Keep a close eye on Leif Coffield. The future of British popular music lies with kids like him.

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