Boldly dynamic with a vintage sound
Daniel Lee, who uses the moniker Lee Paradise, is an electronic indie alternative artist from Toronto, Canada. He is currently with the record label Telephone Explosion. His first album, Water Palace Kingdom was released in 2014, but he is best known for his 2020 album called The Fink. Now, he has just released his latest LP & Co on October 28, 2022.
Lee has been known to boldly switch between various genres of music throughout his artistic career. He has evolved from dystopian alternative rock to electronic indie music with driving beats and vintage instrumental elements. In & Co, Lee also collaborates with a few artists of different styles and backgrounds. He has collaborated with the following artists: New Chance, Scott Hardware and Isla Craig.
Lee’s latest release starts off with a strong opening track called “Carnival.” This particular song perfectly embodies its title. “Carnival” starts out with quiet hi hats and syncopated synth lines. The lead single truly foreshadows the following tracks on the album; including prominent instrumental characteristics such as the deep driving bass, the upbeat and danceable drum line with a Latin-like feel, ethereal reverb vocals and quirky syncopated synthesizers.
The instrumental characteristics presented throughout the LP are quite varied. Lee has fully succeeded at blending these together to create his own audibly pleasing musical style. Furthermore, Lee and the artists he collaborated with are very stylistically compatible. For example, in the song “Cement,” featured alternative artist Scott Hardware’s gentle vocals are perfectly accompanied by Lee’s retrospective instrumental. Lee’s instrumental consists of quirky synthesizers, a simplistic 80s sounding drum line and an edgy baseline filled with musical accidentals that are bound to keep listeners audibly stimulated and interested. Another example is the song, “Waves (Any Old Day.)” This song features vocalist Isla Craig singing in a low, whispery tone— this contrasts greatly with the deep bass and the laid back drums.
It is evident that through the creativity of Lee Paradise, the featured artists, and the several other producers that he collaborated with, & Co has proved to be an album with great musical diversity. Unlike his dark gritty preceding albums, & Co is an album comprised of hopeful undertones, interesting percussion lines and gentle vocals. This album is both simple and complex in the sense that the music is catchy, but also clever and audibly intriguing to listen to.
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