Spirits of Leo

Five-piece post-punk band, Spirits of Leo, is no stranger to the contemporary music scene. The group has been releasing tracks for the past six years via Soundcloud and Bandcamp.

The band is also no stranger to older eras, building off of the dreamy pop-rock hybrid that bands like The Cure, The Police and Joy Division mastered in the 80s. Their balance of major and minor paired with lush harmonies harkens back to a past decade, pulling the listener into a nostalgic haze.

Their latest single, “Legacy,” uses a layered soundscape to tell its story with Ryan Santos Phillip’s vocals fading smoothly into the background noise. The song is mysterious — maybe even gloomy — but manages to never trail off into despondent territory. The track is off of upcoming LP, Equinox, set to be released via Lux Perpetua on March 23. Ryan self-produced the album over the course of four years, and two coasts with the band forming in Santa Rosa California, and now based in Brooklyn.

If “Legacy,” is any indicator, the band has found a way to perfectly toe the line between hopeful and heartbroken on their upcoming LP. - Culture Collide

Today is the best day of your life because post-punk Gods, Spirits of Leo have just released this incredible post-punk meets shoegaze track “Eden.”

Founded by singer Ryan Santos Phillips in Santa Rosa, CA (but living out their best life in our city — Brooklyn), Spirits of Leo delivers ethereal soundscapes with driving intensity. You can definitely hear influences The Cure, The Chameleons and Red House Painters, and some Jesus and Mary Chain. Written and recorded by Phillips over the course of four years, Equinox is a marked departure from the band’s previous discography, exploring darker, more cultivated themes and textures.

“Spirits of Leo started in December 2012, when I was a 19-year-old attending junior college. At that time, it felt as if nobody in my immediate vicinity seemed interested in making the kind of music I was desperate to make. I’d always loved the sounds of the New Wave era, having grown up on those kinds of records. I began recording my own tracks one layer at a time, experimenting with various effects and borrowing a friend’s microphone, until the songs felt finished, into what would become the first self-titled EP. Much of the subject matter at that time centered on anxieties, nightmares, isolation, and feelings of helplessness.”

The track “Eden” was written and recorded in one, overnight sitting, no doubt while I was off in Bushwick getting drunk somewhere with my dog. Goes to show you what different Brooklynites are capable of doing (or not, in my case).

“It was a response to a major breach of trust and dealing with that pain, which felt immovable at the time. The lyrics deal with attachment, infidelity, trust, and a world capsized.”

Equinox is coming out March 23rd, 2018 through Lux Perpetua.

“Until last year, Equinox was only a concept, a collection of demos dating back to late 2013. The unfinished album had been weighing on me for years until finally, I decided to fully construct the album, filling-in missing pieces, re-writing, re-recording guitar parts, re-recording vocals, polishing, and mixing. Like the rest of the album, both songs were self-recorded on my two-input audio interface, partially in my parents’ home in Northern California and in my room in Brooklyn (apart from the drums, which were later recorded in a professional studio).” - Left Bank Magazine

With its title referencing the biblical world without sin, Brooklyn's Spirits of Leo's new track “Eden” (streaming below) creates a dreampop impression of that earthly temptation garden. Having relocated to Brooklyn from California, the band's creative force Ryan Santos Phillips weaves in a nod to Steinbeck's “East of Eden” as well. However, much like the human struggles in that literary tale, the prevailing focus here is of a paradise lost. Built around a driving bass line, melodic guitar riffs and clearly defined percussion, the vocals cascade in layers that create an atmospheric motion. “I wonder where we're going again” serves as the songs catchiest repeated lyrical refrain providing a glimmer of hope for another chance at paradise. Included on the full-length album “Equinox,” the band will play its release show on March 22 at Tender Trap, with the record available everywhere on the 23rd. - The Deli Magazine

“Legacy,” a new track from post-punk band Spirits of Leo, is rife with nostalgia, a byproduct of early Cure-esque guitar work mixed flawlessly with an atmospheric, shoegazing undercurrent. It’s slick, dark and as warm and inviting as it is elusive.

Like the best of My Bloody Valentine, to name a forerunner to stylistic aspects running through Spirits of Leo, the lyrics here are difficult to discern, but the track is almost better from that perspective–the voice is reverted simply to an instrument of pure lush feeling in this case.

Founded in Santa Rosa, California, but now grounded in Brooklyn, Spirits of Leo recorded and self-produced their upcoming album Equinox on both the east and west coast over the past four years. The LP is set for release on March 23. - Buffa Blog

Founded in Santa Rosa, CA and currently based in Brooklyn, NY, post punk five-piece Spirits Of Leo have been floating under the radar for quite a while. The band has put out a series of releases through their Bandcamp page, and they're currently readying their new album, Equinox, scheduled to be released on March 23rd, 2018 through Lux Perpetua.

Spirits of Leo mention The Cure, The Chameleons and Red House Painters as their biggest influences and have previously covered songs by Joy Division and Fleetwood Mac, yet, the dark sound they have achieved on their new work is all theirs. Equinox was recorded on both coasts, self-produced and written over the course of four whole years. It finds the band in search for darker sounds and aesthetics, and represents their exploratory nature and need for change.

Legacy, the first single off the upcoming album, is founded on the darkness Spirits Of Leo carry on their elegant, revised sound, mingled with traces of nostalgia and underlying hopefulness that cut through to great effect, as something equally dismal and approachable. - Destroy//Exist

Presently based in Brooklyn though initially formed in Santa Rosa, CA, Spirits of Leo capture a vein of nostalgic post-punk better than most, with reverbed vocals leading a haunting charge alongside reverbed, jangly guitars and a general feeling of solitude. Their new single “Legacy” comes off their upcoming album, Equinox, with the single exploring “the loss of youth through failure, heartbreak, and raw vulnerability.” Moody and hypnotic, “Legacy” recalls the likes of The Chameleons UK, though with a less menacing vocal presence; the vocals here tout a more ethereal charm than many post-punk counterparts. Still, the feeling is genuinely captured, resulting in a track that succeeds both melodically and aesthetically. - Obscure Sound

Legacy has a unmistakably retro feel, with sweeping guitar lines and gorgeous vocals reminiscent of 80s icons including The Smiths and The Cure. Anyone with even the slightest feelings of nostalgia and love for old school indie will be captivated by this track from the second it kicks in.

If Spirits of Leo aren’t on your radar, it’s time to fix that. They’re making music with an otherworldly ambiance. The floating melodies on Legacy create an immersive and ethereal tone, delivering some of the best alternative indie sounds I’ve heard coming out of the US in a good while.

Legacy is taken from the bands forthcoming LP Equinox. Recorded on both coasts and written over the course of four years. Equinox is a marked departure from the band’s previous discography, exploring darker, more cultivated themes and textures. The LP is set to be released on March 23rd, 2018 through Lux Perpetua. Keep an eye out for that one. - Xune Mag

The twangy guitars and snare-heavy intro of ‘Legacy’ gave me serious 80s feels! The reverb-heavy post-punk tune is arguably Spirits of Leo‘s strongest work to date. The Brooklyn-based band will release the song on their forthcoming album ‘Equinox‘ (out March 23). Fingers crossed the rest of the 16 track collection is as strong as this. - Sounds Better With Reverb