Leo Abrahams
Encyclopedia
Leo Abrahams is a British
musician
, composer
, and producer
. He has collaborated with a multitude of professional musicians, including Brian Eno
, Imogen Heap
, Jarvis Cocker
, Carl Barât
, and Paul Simon
. After attending the Royal Academy of Music
in England
, he started his musical career by touring as lead guitarist with Imogen Heap. Starting in 2005 he has released five solo albums, largely in an ambient
style involving complex arrangements and a pioneering use of guitar-generated textures. He's also co-written or arranged a variety of film soundtracks, including Peter Jackson
's 2009 release The Lovely Bones
and Steve McQueen
's Hunger
.
. After highschool, Abrahams attended the Royal Academy of Music
with the goal of becoming a classical composer. While there, he studied under Steve Martland
and Nick Ingman
, only to later become disillusioned.
. Heap then invited Leo to go on tour, prompting Abrahams to leave the academy to tour England for several months.
Imogen Heap introduced Abrahams to alternative folk artist Ed Harcourt
on the night Harcout was signed by a major label. After Abrahams confirmed to Harcourt that he liked Tom Waits
, Harcourt agreed to take Abrahams on as a guitarist. Abrahams played lead guitar and scored the instrumental parts on Harcourt's 2001 album Here Be Monsters
, as well as Harcourt's subsequent albums.
A couple years later Abrahams had a fortuitous meeting with producer and ambient pioneer Brian Eno
in a Notting Hill
guitar shop. Eno stated "I spotted him trying out a guitar, the first I've ever seen in a guitar shop who wasn't playing 'Stairway to Heaven
,' so I thought he must be good." Eno invited Abrahams to his studio, and Abrahams contributed guitar to Eno's album Drawn From Life
, released in 2001. Abrahams went on to contribute instrumentals to a number of musicians produced by Eno, including Grace Jones
, Sean Kuti, Nick Cave
, and Paul Simon's
2006 album Surprise
.
As a guitarist he has played on over 100 records by artists including Florence and the Machine
, Annie Lennox
, Marianne Faithfull
and Badly Drawn Boy
. With David Holmes
he contributed several instruments and co-wrote several tracks on Holmes' release The Holy Pictures
.
and Brian Eno's Everything That Happens Will Happen Today
, co-writing the lead single "Strange Overtones
", and his solo production credits include Carl Barât
(of The Libertines
), Chris Difford
(of Squeeze), Brett Anderson
(of Suede
), Paolo Nutini
, Sparrow and the Workshop
, and Kill it Kid. He arranged the string sections for the 2003 album Silence is Easy
by Starsailor
, also conducting the orchestra
at Abbey Road Studios
.
He's co-written or arranged a variety of film soundtracks, including Peter Jackson
's 2009 release The Lovely Bones
and Steve McQueen
's award-winning Hunger
.
Abrahams joined with long-time collaborators Jon Hopkins
and Brian Eno
to create the 2010 album Small Craft on a Milk Sea
. The album is based largely on a two-week period of joint improvisation, as well as "several years of jams between the three of us." The album is officially described as "a Brian Eno album featuring Leo Abrahams and Jon Hopkins."
, Abrahams created his first solo album in 2005. Honeytrap, released on Just Music, relies primarily on ambient sounds generated exclusively by guitars, rejecting keyboard effects, sampling, computer effects, or keyboards. The BBC
referred to the album as "subtle, imaginative and sometimes intoxicatingly lovely."
Scene Memory (2006), his second solo album, was also in an ambient style, with sounds created entirely by playing electric guitar
s through chains of laptop effects. A Boomkat review stated "Abrahams blends piano, guitar, and electronics to an almost euphoric effect - the record feels like you are walking in a dream." Sea of Tranquility reviewed the album saying "he respects a certain level of restraint - the solo guitar- putting into sharp relief the...limitless opportunities for the resultant sounds and form. This work is thoughtful, adventurous, and the result of a high degree of artistic integrity."
His third album, the 2007 The Unrest Cure, was initially built out of sessions in New York with David Holmes
' rhythm section. Brian Eno, KT Turnstall, Ed Harcourt, Foy Vance
, Pati Yang
, Merz
, Phoebe Legere
, Kari Kleiv, and recently deceased poet Bingo Gazingo
also contributed to the album. It involves heavier guitar lines than the previous two albums.
In his 2008 album Grape and the Grain, Abrahams continued to utilize English Folk themes, mainly with pieces featuring guitar, added instrumentation such as cello
and medieval lute
, and occasionally a Hurdy Gurdy
, which he learnt for the record.
He has released two further EPs on the Just Music label, and has a new vocal-based record slated for release on One Little Indian in 2011.
Abrahams has performed solo shows for his various albums across Europe, Russia
, and The United States.
Singles
Singles
Instrumentals
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
musician
Musician
A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....
, composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
, and producer
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
. He has collaborated with a multitude of professional musicians, including Brian Eno
Brian Eno
Brian Peter George St. John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno , commonly known as Brian Eno or simply as Eno , is an English musician, composer, record producer, singer and visual artist, known as one of the principal innovators of ambient music.Eno studied at Colchester Institute art school in Essex,...
, Imogen Heap
Imogen Heap
Imogen Jennifer Jane Heap is a Grammy Award-winning English singer, composer and songwriter from Havering, Essex. She is known for her work as part of the musical duo Frou Frou and her solo albums, which she writes, produces, and mixes...
, Jarvis Cocker
Jarvis Cocker
Jarvis Branson Cocker is an English musician and frontman for the band Pulp. Through his work with the band, Cocker became a figurehead of the Britpop movement of the mid-1990s. Following Pulp's hiatus Cocker has led a successful solo career...
, Carl Barât
Carl Barât
Carl Ashley Raphael Barât is an English musician, actor and author. He was the frontman and lead guitarist of Dirty Pretty Things, and recently debuted a solo album, but is best known for being the co-frontman with Peter Doherty of the garage rock band The Libertines.-Early life:Carl Barât was...
, and Paul Simon
Paul Simon
Paul Frederic Simon is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist.Simon is best known for his success, beginning in 1965, as part of the duo Simon & Garfunkel, with musical partner Art Garfunkel. Simon wrote most of the pair's songs, including three that reached number one on the US singles...
. After attending the Royal Academy of Music
Royal Academy of Music
The Royal Academy of Music in London, England, is a conservatoire, Britain's oldest degree-granting music school and a constituent college of the University of London since 1999. The Academy was founded by Lord Burghersh in 1822 with the help and ideas of the French harpist and composer Nicolas...
in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, he started his musical career by touring as lead guitarist with Imogen Heap. Starting in 2005 he has released five solo albums, largely in an ambient
Ambient music
Ambient music is a musical genre that focuses largely on the timbral characteristics of sounds, often organized or performed to evoke an "atmospheric", "visual" or "unobtrusive" quality.- History :...
style involving complex arrangements and a pioneering use of guitar-generated textures. He's also co-written or arranged a variety of film soundtracks, including Peter Jackson
Peter Jackson
Sir Peter Robert Jackson, KNZM is a New Zealand film director, producer, actor, and screenwriter, known for his The Lord of the Rings film trilogy , adapted from the novel by J. R. R...
's 2009 release The Lovely Bones
The Lovely Bones (film)
The Lovely Bones is a 2009 American drama film directed by Peter Jackson. It is a film adaptation of the award-winning and best-selling 2002 novel of the same name by Alice Sebold. The film stars Saoirse Ronan as Susie Salmon, alongside Mark Wahlberg and Rachel Weisz as Susie's parents Jack and...
and Steve McQueen
Steve McQueen
Terrence Steven "Steve" McQueen was an American movie actor. He was nicknamed "The King of Cool." His "anti-hero" persona, which he developed at the height of the Vietnam counterculture, made him one of the top box-office draws of the 1960s and 1970s. McQueen received an Academy Award nomination...
's Hunger
Hunger (2008 film)
Hunger is a 2008 film about the 1981 Irish hunger strike. It was written by Enda Walsh and Steve R. McQueen, who also directed. It was made by Blast! Films and commissioned by Channel 4 and Film4. It premiered at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival, winning the prestigious Caméra d'Or award for...
.
Early life
Leo Abrahams was given an acoustic guitar by his parents at age 7, only to ignore the instrument for piano until age 12. As a teenager he played guitar in a succession of bands, also writing classical musicClassical music
Classical music is the art music produced in, or rooted in, the traditions of Western liturgical and secular music, encompassing a broad period from roughly the 11th century to present times...
. After highschool, Abrahams attended the Royal Academy of Music
Royal Academy of Music
The Royal Academy of Music in London, England, is a conservatoire, Britain's oldest degree-granting music school and a constituent college of the University of London since 1999. The Academy was founded by Lord Burghersh in 1822 with the help and ideas of the French harpist and composer Nicolas...
with the goal of becoming a classical composer. While there, he studied under Steve Martland
Steve Martland
Steve Martland is an English composer.-Life and Music :Martland was born in Liverpool, England and studied composition at Liverpool University and in the Netherlands with Louis Andriessen...
and Nick Ingman
Nick Ingman
Nicholas Ingman is an orchestra conductor and composer.Early recordings include:*'Big Beat' *'The Love Album' *'Terminator'...
, only to later become disillusioned.
Musical collaborations
During his studies Abrahams got a call from Mickey Modern, a manager he'd sent a demo to years before. Modern was looking for a guitarist to perform with singer Imogen HeapImogen Heap
Imogen Jennifer Jane Heap is a Grammy Award-winning English singer, composer and songwriter from Havering, Essex. She is known for her work as part of the musical duo Frou Frou and her solo albums, which she writes, produces, and mixes...
. Heap then invited Leo to go on tour, prompting Abrahams to leave the academy to tour England for several months.
Imogen Heap introduced Abrahams to alternative folk artist Ed Harcourt
Ed Harcourt
Ed Harcourt is an English singer-songwriter. To date, he has released five studio albums, two EPs, and thirteen singles. His debut album, Here Be Monsters, was nominated for the 2001 Mercury Prize...
on the night Harcout was signed by a major label. After Abrahams confirmed to Harcourt that he liked Tom Waits
Tom Waits
Thomas Alan "Tom" Waits is an American singer-songwriter, composer, and actor. Waits has a distinctive voice, described by critic Daniel Durchholz as sounding "like it was soaked in a vat of bourbon, left hanging in the smokehouse for a few months, and then taken outside and run over with a car."...
, Harcourt agreed to take Abrahams on as a guitarist. Abrahams played lead guitar and scored the instrumental parts on Harcourt's 2001 album Here Be Monsters
Here Be Monsters
Here Be Monsters is the debut album by Ed Harcourt, released in 2001. It was nominated for the Mercury Music Prize in 2001. Tim Holmes, one-half of British dance music duo Death In Vegas, co-produced the album.-Track listing:#"Something in My Eye" – 3:41...
, as well as Harcourt's subsequent albums.
A couple years later Abrahams had a fortuitous meeting with producer and ambient pioneer Brian Eno
Brian Eno
Brian Peter George St. John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno , commonly known as Brian Eno or simply as Eno , is an English musician, composer, record producer, singer and visual artist, known as one of the principal innovators of ambient music.Eno studied at Colchester Institute art school in Essex,...
in a Notting Hill
Notting Hill
Notting Hill is an area in London, England, close to the north-western corner of Kensington Gardens, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea...
guitar shop. Eno stated "I spotted him trying out a guitar, the first I've ever seen in a guitar shop who wasn't playing 'Stairway to Heaven
Stairway to Heaven
"Stairway to Heaven" is a song by the English rock band Led Zeppelin, released in late 1971. It was composed by guitarist Jimmy Page and vocalist Robert Plant for the band's untitled fourth studio album . The song, running eight minutes and two seconds, is composed of several sections, which...
,' so I thought he must be good." Eno invited Abrahams to his studio, and Abrahams contributed guitar to Eno's album Drawn From Life
Drawn From Life
Drawn from Life is a 2001 music album by the British ambient musician Brian Eno and J. Peter Schwalm.-Track listing:# "From This Moment" – 1:21# "Persis" – 7:41# "Like Pictures Part 1" – 1:20# "Like Pictures Part 2" – 5:48# "Night Traffic" – 8:19...
, released in 2001. Abrahams went on to contribute instrumentals to a number of musicians produced by Eno, including Grace Jones
Grace Jones
Grace Jones is a Jamaican-American singer, model and actress.Jones secured a record deal with Island Records in 1977, which resulted in a string of dance-club hits. In the late 1970s, she adapted the emerging electronic music style and adopted a severe, androgynous look with square-cut hair and...
, Sean Kuti, Nick Cave
Nick Cave
Nicholas Edward "Nick" Cave is an Australian musician, songwriter, author, screenwriter, and occasional film actor.He is best known for his work as a frontman of the critically acclaimed rock band Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, established in 1984, a group known for its eclectic influences and...
, and Paul Simon's
Paul Simon
Paul Frederic Simon is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist.Simon is best known for his success, beginning in 1965, as part of the duo Simon & Garfunkel, with musical partner Art Garfunkel. Simon wrote most of the pair's songs, including three that reached number one on the US singles...
2006 album Surprise
Surprise (Paul Simon album)
Surprise is the eleventh studio album by American musician Paul Simon, released in May 2006.-History:After the relative success of You're the One, which was released in late 2000 finding Simon back to the Top 20 of the American charts after ten years of absence and also receiving a Grammy...
.
As a guitarist he has played on over 100 records by artists including Florence and the Machine
Florence and the Machine
Florence and the Machine is the recording name of English musician Florence Welch and a collaboration of other artists who provide music for her voice. Florence and the Machine's sound has been described as a combination of various genres, including rock and soul...
, Annie Lennox
Annie Lennox
Annie Lennox, OBE , born Ann Lennox, is a Scottish singer-songwriter, political activist and philanthropist. After achieving minor success in the late 1970s with The Tourists, with fellow musician David A...
, Marianne Faithfull
Marianne Faithfull
Marianne Evelyn Faithfull is an award-winning English singer, songwriter and actress whose career has spanned five decades....
and Badly Drawn Boy
Badly Drawn Boy
Damon Gough is an English alternative music singer/songwriter. He was born on 2 October 1969, in Dunstable, Bedfordshire. He grew up in the Breightmet area of Bolton, Lancashire, England....
. With David Holmes
David Holmes (musician)
David Holmes is a Northern Irish DJ, musician and composer.-Career:Holmes began djing in Belfast from the age of 15. His first hit was the song "DeNiro", with Ashley Beedle, in 1992. In the early to mid 1990s he ran two club nights in the Belfast Art College known as Sugar Sweet and Shake Yer Brain...
he contributed several instruments and co-wrote several tracks on Holmes' release The Holy Pictures
The Holy Pictures
The Holy Pictures is a Choice Music Prize-nominated studio album by David Holmes.The track "Love Reign Over Me" is featured on Series 3 episode 5 "Freddie" of the U.K. version of Skins. The track "Holy Pictures" is featured in football video game Pro Evolution Soccer 2010...
.
Arranging, producing
Abrahams has written with and produced for a variety of musicians. He contributed additional production to David ByrneDavid Byrne
David Byrne may refer to:*David Byrne , musician and former Talking Heads frontman**David Byrne , his eponymous album*David Byrne , Irish footballer*David Byrne , English footballer...
and Brian Eno's Everything That Happens Will Happen Today
Everything That Happens Will Happen Today
Everything That Happens Will Happen Today is the second album made in collaboration between David Byrne and Brian Eno, released on August 18, 2008, by Todo Mundo. The album explores themes of humanity versus technology and optimism in spite of bleak circumstance through the blending of electronic...
, co-writing the lead single "Strange Overtones
Strange Overtones
"Strange Overtones" is a song recorded by David Byrne and Brian Eno, written by the duo with Leo Abrahams. It was released on August 4, 2008 by means of free download as the lead single from Byrne's and Eno's second collaborative studio album Everything That Happens Will Happen Today...
", and his solo production credits include Carl Barât
Carl Barât
Carl Ashley Raphael Barât is an English musician, actor and author. He was the frontman and lead guitarist of Dirty Pretty Things, and recently debuted a solo album, but is best known for being the co-frontman with Peter Doherty of the garage rock band The Libertines.-Early life:Carl Barât was...
(of The Libertines
The Libertines
The Libertines were an English rock band, formed in London in 1997 by frontmen Carl Barât and Pete Doherty . The band, centred on the song-writing partnership of Barat and Doherty, also included John Hassall and Gary Powell for most of its recording career...
), Chris Difford
Chris Difford
Chris Difford is a singer, musician, songwriter, and record producer....
(of Squeeze), Brett Anderson
Brett Anderson
Brett Lewis Anderson is an English singer-songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist of the band Suede. After Suede disbanded in 2003, he briefly fronted The Tears, and has released four solo albums...
(of Suede
Suede (band)
Suede are an English alternative rock band from London, formed in 1989. The group's most prominent early line-up featured singer Brett Anderson, guitarist Bernard Butler, bass player Mat Osman and drummer Simon Gilbert. By 1992, Suede were hailed as "The Best New Band in Britain", and attracted...
), Paolo Nutini
Paolo Nutini
Paolo Giovanni Nutini is a Scottish singer, songwriter and musician from Paisley. His father is of Italian descent, from Barga, Tuscany, although both his parents are Scottish, his family having been in Scotland for three generations....
, Sparrow and the Workshop
Sparrow and the Workshop
Sparrow and the Workshop are a three-piece based in Glasgow consisting of Belfast-born, Chicago-raised Jill O’Sullivan , Welshman Nick Packer and Scotsman Gregor Donaldson...
, and Kill it Kid. He arranged the string sections for the 2003 album Silence is Easy
Silence Is Easy
Silence Is Easy is the second studio album by indie rock group Starsailor, released in September 2003. The album cover is loosely based on Echo & the Bunnymen's Heaven Up Here. The song Some of Us was featured in an episode of Bones entitled A Boy in a Bush and in the closing credits of the Belgian...
by Starsailor
Starsailor (band)
Starsailor is an English post-britpop band, formed in Leigh, Warrington and Greater Manchester. By 2009, they had four charting albums and ten Top 40 singles in the UK since 2001.-Early history:...
, also conducting the orchestra
Orchestra
An orchestra is a sizable instrumental ensemble that contains sections of string, brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments. The term orchestra derives from the Greek ορχήστρα, the name for the area in front of an ancient Greek stage reserved for the Greek chorus...
at Abbey Road Studios
Abbey Road Studios
Abbey Road Studios is a recording studio located at 3 Abbey Road, St John's Wood, City of Westminster, London, England. It was established in November 1931 by the Gramophone Company, a predecessor of British music company EMI, its present owner...
.
He's co-written or arranged a variety of film soundtracks, including Peter Jackson
Peter Jackson
Sir Peter Robert Jackson, KNZM is a New Zealand film director, producer, actor, and screenwriter, known for his The Lord of the Rings film trilogy , adapted from the novel by J. R. R...
's 2009 release The Lovely Bones
The Lovely Bones (film)
The Lovely Bones is a 2009 American drama film directed by Peter Jackson. It is a film adaptation of the award-winning and best-selling 2002 novel of the same name by Alice Sebold. The film stars Saoirse Ronan as Susie Salmon, alongside Mark Wahlberg and Rachel Weisz as Susie's parents Jack and...
and Steve McQueen
Steve McQueen
Terrence Steven "Steve" McQueen was an American movie actor. He was nicknamed "The King of Cool." His "anti-hero" persona, which he developed at the height of the Vietnam counterculture, made him one of the top box-office draws of the 1960s and 1970s. McQueen received an Academy Award nomination...
's award-winning Hunger
Hunger (2008 film)
Hunger is a 2008 film about the 1981 Irish hunger strike. It was written by Enda Walsh and Steve R. McQueen, who also directed. It was made by Blast! Films and commissioned by Channel 4 and Film4. It premiered at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival, winning the prestigious Caméra d'Or award for...
.
Abrahams joined with long-time collaborators Jon Hopkins
Jon Hopkins
Jon Hopkins is a London-based producer and musician who writes and performs his own melodic electronica and dance music. After starting his career performing keyboard for Imogen Heap, he's produced or contributed to albums by Brian Eno, Coldplay, David Holmes, and others...
and Brian Eno
Brian Eno
Brian Peter George St. John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno , commonly known as Brian Eno or simply as Eno , is an English musician, composer, record producer, singer and visual artist, known as one of the principal innovators of ambient music.Eno studied at Colchester Institute art school in Essex,...
to create the 2010 album Small Craft on a Milk Sea
Small Craft on a Milk Sea
Small Craft on a Milk Sea is a 2010 album by British musician and record producer Brian Eno. The album—his debut with Warp—was released in Japan on 19 October 2010, in the United States on 2 November, and the United Kingdom on 15 November...
. The album is based largely on a two-week period of joint improvisation, as well as "several years of jams between the three of us." The album is officially described as "a Brian Eno album featuring Leo Abrahams and Jon Hopkins."
Solo albums
Inspired by his work on the film score to the 2003 film Code 46Code 46
Code 46 is a 2003 British film directed by Michael Winterbottom, with screenplay by Frank Cottrell Boyce. It was produced by BBC Films and Revolution Films. It is a disquieting science fiction love story with themes that explore the moral impacts of advances in biotechnology. The soundtrack was...
, Abrahams created his first solo album in 2005. Honeytrap, released on Just Music, relies primarily on ambient sounds generated exclusively by guitars, rejecting keyboard effects, sampling, computer effects, or keyboards. The BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
referred to the album as "subtle, imaginative and sometimes intoxicatingly lovely."
Scene Memory (2006), his second solo album, was also in an ambient style, with sounds created entirely by playing electric guitar
Electric guitar
An electric guitar is a guitar that uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction to convert vibrations of its metal strings into electric audio signals. The signal generated by an electric guitar is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, so it is amplified before sending it to a loudspeaker...
s through chains of laptop effects. A Boomkat review stated "Abrahams blends piano, guitar, and electronics to an almost euphoric effect - the record feels like you are walking in a dream." Sea of Tranquility reviewed the album saying "he respects a certain level of restraint - the solo guitar- putting into sharp relief the...limitless opportunities for the resultant sounds and form. This work is thoughtful, adventurous, and the result of a high degree of artistic integrity."
His third album, the 2007 The Unrest Cure, was initially built out of sessions in New York with David Holmes
David Holmes (musician)
David Holmes is a Northern Irish DJ, musician and composer.-Career:Holmes began djing in Belfast from the age of 15. His first hit was the song "DeNiro", with Ashley Beedle, in 1992. In the early to mid 1990s he ran two club nights in the Belfast Art College known as Sugar Sweet and Shake Yer Brain...
' rhythm section. Brian Eno, KT Turnstall, Ed Harcourt, Foy Vance
Foy Vance
Foy Vance is a musician from Bangor, County Down, Northern Ireland. His first single "Gabriel and the Vagabond" was released on 18 December 2006 on Wurdamouth Records. The single's B-side was "Indiscriminate Act of Kindness"...
, Pati Yang
Pati Yang
Pati Yang is a Polish singer.-Personal life:She spent the first eight years of her childhood on the road with her mother and her then-partner Jan Borysewicz, leader of the Lady Pank band.In 1998, she recorded her first album Jaszczurka...
, Merz
Merz (musician)
Merz is an English multi-instrumentalist, singer and songwriter. He has released three albums.-Early life:Born Conrad Ewart Lambert in Dorset, England, he grew up in Wakefield & Huddersfield, Yorkshire. He moved to London in 1992.-Career:...
, Phoebe Legere
Phoebe Legere
Phoebe Hemenway Legere is a Multi-Format Artist: she is a composer, soprano, pianist and accordionist; a painter, a poet, and a film maker.Legere has recorded for Mercury Records in England and Epic, Island, Funtone, ESP Disk and Einstein records in the United States. Legere has released ten CDs...
, Kari Kleiv, and recently deceased poet Bingo Gazingo
Bingo Gazingo
Murray Wachs, better known as Bingo Gazingo , was an elderly poet and former postal worker from New York City. Two versions, each also titled Bingo Gazingo, have been released of the only single-artist album ever released by WFMU -- the first on cassette, the second on CD...
also contributed to the album. It involves heavier guitar lines than the previous two albums.
In his 2008 album Grape and the Grain, Abrahams continued to utilize English Folk themes, mainly with pieces featuring guitar, added instrumentation such as cello
Cello
The cello is a bowed string instrument with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is a member of the violin family of musical instruments, which also includes the violin, viola, and double bass. Old forms of the instrument in the Baroque era are baryton and viol .A person who plays a cello is...
and medieval lute
Lute
Lute can refer generally to any plucked string instrument with a neck and a deep round back, or more specifically to an instrument from the family of European lutes....
, and occasionally a Hurdy Gurdy
Hurdy gurdy
The hurdy gurdy or hurdy-gurdy is a stringed musical instrument that produces sound by a crank-turned rosined wheel rubbing against the strings. The wheel functions much like a violin bow, and single notes played on the instrument sound similar to a violin...
, which he learnt for the record.
He has released two further EPs on the Just Music label, and has a new vocal-based record slated for release on One Little Indian in 2011.
Abrahams has performed solo shows for his various albums across Europe, Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
, and The United States.
Solo albums
Collaborations
Albums- 2001: Here Be MonstersHere Be MonstersHere Be Monsters is the debut album by Ed Harcourt, released in 2001. It was nominated for the Mercury Music Prize in 2001. Tim Holmes, one-half of British dance music duo Death In Vegas, co-produced the album.-Track listing:#"Something in My Eye" – 3:41...
by Ed HarcourtEd HarcourtEd Harcourt is an English singer-songwriter. To date, he has released five studio albums, two EPs, and thirteen singles. His debut album, Here Be Monsters, was nominated for the 2001 Mercury Prize...
- guitar/string arrangements, guitar - 2003: From Every SphereFrom Every SphereFrom Every Sphere is the second album by British singer-songwriter Ed Harcourt, released in 2003. Heavenly Records labelmate Jimi Goodwin of Doves plays tambourine on the first single "All of Your Days Will Be Blessed."-Track listing:...
by Ed Harcourt - orchestral arrangements, guitar/keyboard - 2003: Silence is EasySilence Is EasySilence Is Easy is the second studio album by indie rock group Starsailor, released in September 2003. The album cover is loosely based on Echo & the Bunnymen's Heaven Up Here. The song Some of Us was featured in an episode of Bones entitled A Boy in a Bush and in the closing credits of the Belgian...
by StarsailorStarsailor (band)Starsailor is an English post-britpop band, formed in Leigh, Warrington and Greater Manchester. By 2009, they had four charting albums and ten Top 40 singles in the UK since 2001.-Early history:...
(#2 UKUK Albums ChartThe UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart...
) - string arrangements - 2005: How the Mighty FallHow the Mighty FallHow The Mighty Fall is the third studio album from Take That band member, Mark Owen. The album was released on April 18, 2005, nearly two years after his second album. Three singles were released from the album: "Makin' Out", "Believe In The Boogie" and "Hail Mary". This remains the last studio...
by Mark OwenMark OwenMark Anthony Patrick Owen , is an English singer-songwriter. He is a member of pop band Take That. The band were hugely successful during the 1990s and have enjoyed even more success since their reunion in 2005...
(#78 UK) - co-writer - 2005: Elephant's GraveyardElephant's GraveyardElephant's Graveyard is a special collection of B-sides and rarities from singer-songwriter Ed Harcourt. The collection was made available as a digital download only in the UK, and as a hard-to-find promo only 2CD set in the US...
by Ed Harcourt - string/wind arrangements - 2008: Everything That Happens Will Happen TodayEverything That Happens Will Happen TodayEverything That Happens Will Happen Today is the second album made in collaboration between David Byrne and Brian Eno, released on August 18, 2008, by Todo Mundo. The album explores themes of humanity versus technology and optimism in spite of bleak circumstance through the blending of electronic...
with David ByrneDavid ByrneDavid Byrne may refer to:*David Byrne , musician and former Talking Heads frontman**David Byrne , his eponymous album*David Byrne , Irish footballer*David Byrne , English footballer...
/ Brian EnoBrian EnoBrian Peter George St. John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno , commonly known as Brian Eno or simply as Eno , is an English musician, composer, record producer, singer and visual artist, known as one of the principal innovators of ambient music.Eno studied at Colchester Institute art school in Essex,...
(#1 CMJ) - production, various instrumentals - 2009: Slow AttackSlow AttackSlow Attack is the third solo album by the English singer Brett Anderson.Produced by Anderson with new writing partner Leo Abrahams, it follows 2008's Wilderness. Anderson said: "It was conceived and created in the bleak London winter...
by Brett AndersonBrett AndersonBrett Lewis Anderson is an English singer-songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist of the band Suede. After Suede disbanded in 2003, he briefly fronted The Tears, and has released four solo albums...
- co-writer, producer - 2010: Small Craft on a Milk SeaSmall Craft on a Milk SeaSmall Craft on a Milk Sea is a 2010 album by British musician and record producer Brian Eno. The album—his debut with Warp—was released in Japan on 19 October 2010, in the United States on 2 November, and the United Kingdom on 15 November...
w/ Brian Eno and Jon HopkinsJon HopkinsJon Hopkins is a London-based producer and musician who writes and performs his own melodic electronica and dance music. After starting his career performing keyboard for Imogen Heap, he's produced or contributed to albums by Brian Eno, Coldplay, David Holmes, and others...
- co-writer, co-producer, guitar, guitaretGuitaretThe Guitaret is an electric lamellophone made by Hohner and invented by Ernst Zacharias, in 1963. Zacharias also invented similar instruments like the Pianet, Cembalet and the Clavinet....
, laptop - 2010: Carl BarâtCarl Barât (album)Carl Barât is the debut solo album by Libertines co-frontman Carl Barât. It was released on 4 October 2010 in the UK. The album was mastered in New York and was the first album released through his own self-funded record label Arcady, but distributed through PIAS Recordings...
by Carl BarâtCarl BarâtCarl Ashley Raphael Barât is an English musician, actor and author. He was the frontman and lead guitarist of Dirty Pretty Things, and recently debuted a solo album, but is best known for being the co-frontman with Peter Doherty of the garage rock band The Libertines.-Early life:Carl Barât was...
- co-writer, technical, guitar, mini-piano, omnichordOmnichordThe Omnichord is an electronic musical instrument, introduced in 1981 and manufactured by the Suzuki Musical Instrument Corporation. It typically features a touch plate, and buttons for major, minor, and diminished chords...
, guitorganGuitorganA Guitorgan is an electric guitar with electronic organ components added. Each guitar fret is separated into six segments, creating independent contact switches for each string. The organ notes are keyed when a string touches a specific segment...
, bass
Singles
- 2008: "Strange OvertonesStrange Overtones"Strange Overtones" is a song recorded by David Byrne and Brian Eno, written by the duo with Leo Abrahams. It was released on August 4, 2008 by means of free download as the lead single from Byrne's and Eno's second collaborative studio album Everything That Happens Will Happen Today...
" with David Byrne / Brian Eno - co-writer, co-producer, guitar, bass - 2008: "I Heard Wonders!" by David HolmesDavid Holmes (musician)David Holmes is a Northern Irish DJ, musician and composer.-Career:Holmes began djing in Belfast from the age of 15. His first hit was the song "DeNiro", with Ashley Beedle, in 1992. In the early to mid 1990s he ran two club nights in the Belfast Art College known as Sugar Sweet and Shake Yer Brain...
- co-writer, instrumentals - 2009: "ScarsScars (Natalie Imbruglia song)"Scars" was due to be the second and final single from Australian singer Natalie Imbruglia's fourth studio album, Come to Life. The single was originally due to be released on 26 April 2010, however, due to contractual issues with the record label, was cancelled.-Release:The digital download was...
" off Come to LifeCome to LifeCome to Life is the fourth studio album by Australian singer-songwriter Natalie Imbruglia and is her first on her own label, Malabar Records. It was released on Island Records on 2 October 2009 in Australia. It was announced UK release was delayed so that Imbruglia could concentrate on her duties...
by Natalie ImbrugliaNatalie ImbrugliaNatalie Jane Imbruglia is an Australian singer-songwriter, model and actress. In the early 1990s, Imbruglia was known to audiences as Beth Brennan in the popular Australian soap Neighbours. Three years after leaving the programme, Imbruglia launched a singing career with the international hit,...
- co-producer
Session Musician
Studio albums- 2001: Opalescent by Jon HopkinsJon HopkinsJon Hopkins is a London-based producer and musician who writes and performs his own melodic electronica and dance music. After starting his career performing keyboard for Imogen Heap, he's produced or contributed to albums by Brian Eno, Coldplay, David Holmes, and others...
- 2001: Drawn From LifeDrawn From LifeDrawn from Life is a 2001 music album by the British ambient musician Brian Eno and J. Peter Schwalm.-Track listing:# "From This Moment" – 1:21# "Persis" – 7:41# "Like Pictures Part 1" – 1:20# "Like Pictures Part 2" – 5:48# "Night Traffic" – 8:19...
by Brian EnoBrian EnoBrian Peter George St. John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno , commonly known as Brian Eno or simply as Eno , is an English musician, composer, record producer, singer and visual artist, known as one of the principal innovators of ambient music.Eno studied at Colchester Institute art school in Essex,...
and Peter Schwalm - 2001: To Be FrankTo Be FrankTo Be Frank is the sixth studio album by Nik Kershaw, released in 2001.-Track listing:#"Wounded" – 4:21#"Get Up" – 4:11#"Die Laughing" – 4:39#"Jane Doe" – 4:22#"How Sad" – 4:16#"Take Me to the Church" – 4:54#"Hello World" – 4:20#"Already" – 5:13...
by Nik KershawNik KershawNik Kershaw is an English singer-songwriter. The one time jazz-funk guitarist was a mid-1980s teen idol. His 50 weeks on the UK Singles Chart in 1984 beat all other soloists... - 2001: TékitoiTékitoiTékitoi is a studio album released in 2004 by the Franco-Algerian musician Rachid Taha. The title is a nonstandard spelling of the French question "Tu es qui, toi?" which might be pronounced in speech as "T'es qui, toi?" and, in the context of this song, means "Who do you think you are?"...
by Rachid TahaRachid TahaRachid Taha is an Algerian singer and activist based in France who has been described as "sonically adventurous." His music is influenced by many different styles such as rock, electronic, punk and raï.-Early life:Taha was born in 1958 in Sig , Algeria, although a second source suggests he was...
- bassBass guitarThe bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick.... - 2003: Pleasure by Pleasure
- 2004: Contact Note by Jon Hopkins
- 2004: StrangersStrangers (album)Strangers is the third full length studio album by British singer-songwriter Ed Harcourt.-Track listing:# "The Storm Is Coming" – 4:51# "Born in the '70s" – 3:15# "This One's for You" – 4:49# "Strangers" – 3:30# "Let Love Not Weigh Me Down" – 4:19...
by Ed HarcourtEd HarcourtEd Harcourt is an English singer-songwriter. To date, he has released five studio albums, two EPs, and thirteen singles. His debut album, Here Be Monsters, was nominated for the 2001 Mercury Prize...
- lead guitar - 2004: RollerskatingRollerskating (album)-Chart positions:...
by Bertine ZetlitzBertine ZetlitzBertine Zetlitz is a Norwegian pop singer. She is one of Norway's most popular performers.-Biography:Bertine Axeliane Robberstad Zetlitz began her musical journey at a young age, penning her first numbers aged just 12. After gaining a background in classical music, Zetlitz began to experiment... - 2005: Silent Treatment by Pati YangPati YangPati Yang is a Polish singer.-Personal life:She spent the first eight years of her childhood on the road with her mother and her then-partner Jan Borysewicz, leader of the Lady Pank band.In 1998, she recorded her first album Jaszczurka...
- 2005: Another Day on EarthAnother Day on EarthAnother Day on Earth is an album by Brian Eno, released in 2005 on Hannibal Records.-Overview:This is the first Eno album to chiefly contain vocals in more than two decades. Speaking of the album, Eno said, "The first one I've done like that for a very long time...25 years or so"...
by Brian Eno - 2005: Speak for YourselfSpeak For Yourself-Charts:...
by Imogen HeapImogen HeapImogen Jennifer Jane Heap is a Grammy Award-winning English singer, composer and songwriter from Havering, Essex. She is known for her work as part of the musical duo Frou Frou and her solo albums, which she writes, produces, and mixes...
(#1 HeatseekersTop HeatseekersTop Heatseekers refers to either of two separate "Breaking and Entering" music charts issued weekly by Billboard Magazine: the Heatseekers Albums chart or the Heatseekers Songs chart. They were introduced by Billboard in 1993 with the purpose of highlighting the sales by new and developing musical...
) - 2006: SurpriseSurprise (Paul Simon album)Surprise is the eleventh studio album by American musician Paul Simon, released in May 2006.-History:After the relative success of You're the One, which was released in late 2000 finding Simon back to the Top 20 of the American charts after ten years of absence and also receiving a Grammy...
by Paul SimonPaul SimonPaul Frederic Simon is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist.Simon is best known for his success, beginning in 1965, as part of the duo Simon & Garfunkel, with musical partner Art Garfunkel. Simon wrote most of the pair's songs, including three that reached number one on the US singles...
(#4 UK) - fretless bass - 2006: The Beautiful LieThe Beautiful LieThe Beautiful Lie is the fourth album by British singer-songwriter Ed Harcourt, released in 2006. Ed's wife, Gita Harcourt, plays violin throughout the album and sings vocals on "Braille," and The Magic Numbers guest as backing vocalists on "Revolution in the Heart." Ed was dropped by Astralwerks...
by Ed Harcourt - 2006: Rogue's Gallery: Pirate Ballads, Sea Songs, and ChanteysRogue's Gallery: Pirate Ballads, Sea Songs, and ChanteysRogue's Gallery: Pirate Ballads, Sea Songs and Chanteys is a compilation album of sea shanties performed by a wide array of artists, ranging from Sting to Bryan Ferry, representing a variety of genres. The artists cover a large number of diverse songs of the sea, at times adding elements...
- 2007: Book of LightningBook of LightningBook of Lightning is the ninth studio album by The Waterboys, released April 2, 2007 through W14/Universal Records. The album contains ten tracks, produced by Mike Scott and Philip Tennant, with musical contributions from Steve Wickham , Richard Naiff , Brady Blade , Mark Smith , Leo Abrahams ,...
by The WaterboysThe WaterboysThe Waterboys are a band formed in 1983 by Mike Scott. The band's membership, past and present, has been composed mainly of musicians from Scotland, Ireland and England. Edinburgh, London, Dublin, Spiddal, New York, and Findhorn have all served as homes for the group. The band has played in a...
- lead guitar - 2008: The Silence of Love by Headless Heroes - various instrumentals
- 2009: EllipseEllipse (album)Ellipse is the third studio album from Grammy Award-winning British singer–songwriter Imogen Heap. After returning from a round the world writing trip, Heap completed the album at her childhood home in Essex, converting her old playroom in the basement into a studio...
by Imogen Heap - 2009: Do You Want the Truth or Something Beautiful?Do You Want the Truth or Something Beautiful?Do You Want the Truth or Something Beautiful? is the debut album by British singer Paloma Faith. It was released on 28 September 2009 by Epic Records. The first single "Stone Cold Sober" was released on 5 June 2009. The second single "New York" was released on 13 September 2009...
by Paloma FaithPaloma FaithPaloma Faith is a British singer-songwriter and actress. In 2009, she released her debut single "Stone Cold Sober", then her debut album, Do You Want the Truth or Something Beautiful?, which was certified Platinum by the British Phonographic Industry. Her debut album stayed within the top 40 album...
(#41 UK) - 2010: Bionic by Christina AguileraChristina AguileraChristina María Aguilera is an American recording artist and actress. Aguilera first appeared on national television in 1990 as a contestant on the Star Search program, and went on to star in Disney Channel's television series The Mickey Mouse Club from 1993–1994...
(#1 UK, #3 Billboard 200Billboard 200The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...
) - lead guitar
Singles
- 2003: "Deepest BlueDeepest Blue (song)"Deepest Blue" is the debut single from the group of the same name originally written by Joel Edwards and produced by Anthony Mein. After the first version of the song did not gain interest it was taken to Matt Schwartz for new production, and he wrote a new backing track and chorus in the...
" by Ministry of SoundMinistry of SoundMinistry of Sound London, commonly referred to as simply Ministry of Sound or MoS, is a nightclub based in London, United Kingdom and an associated record label. It was ranked fourth in the 2010 DJ Magazine top 100 clubs poll 2010. As well as the nightclub in London, there is another in Egypt and...
(#7 UK, #1 Club Chart) - 2004: "Crazy Love" off Before the Poison by Marianne Faithful
- 2009: "Girl with One Eye" off LungsLungs (album)Lungs is the debut album by English indie pop band Florence and the Machine, released 6 July 2009 by Island Records. The album debuted at number two on the UK Albums Chart for five weeks after its release, behind The Essential Michael Jackson compilation. On 10 January 2010 the album returned to...
by Florence and the MachineFlorence and the MachineFlorence and the Machine is the recording name of English musician Florence Welch and a collaboration of other artists who provide music for her voice. Florence and the Machine's sound has been described as a combination of various genres, including rock and soul...
(#1 UK, #1 US Heatseekers)
Soundtracks
Composer- 2007: Searching 1906 - writer, performer
- 2009: Five Minutes of HeavenFive Minutes of HeavenFive Minutes of Heaven is a British/Irish film directed by Oliver Hirschbiegel from a script by Guy Hibbert. The film was premiered on January 19, 2009 at the 25th Sundance Film Festival...
- co-writer with David HolmesDavid Holmes (musician)David Holmes is a Northern Irish DJ, musician and composer.-Career:Holmes began djing in Belfast from the age of 15. His first hit was the song "DeNiro", with Ashley Beedle, in 1992. In the early to mid 1990s he ran two club nights in the Belfast Art College known as Sugar Sweet and Shake Yer Brain... - 2009: HungerHunger (2008 film)Hunger is a 2008 film about the 1981 Irish hunger strike. It was written by Enda Walsh and Steve R. McQueen, who also directed. It was made by Blast! Films and commissioned by Channel 4 and Film4. It premiered at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival, winning the prestigious Caméra d'Or award for...
- co-writer David Holmes - 2009: The Lovely BonesThe Lovely Bones (film)The Lovely Bones is a 2009 American drama film directed by Peter Jackson. It is a film adaptation of the award-winning and best-selling 2002 novel of the same name by Alice Sebold. The film stars Saoirse Ronan as Susie Salmon, alongside Mark Wahlberg and Rachel Weisz as Susie's parents Jack and...
- co-writer with Brian EnoBrian EnoBrian Peter George St. John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno , commonly known as Brian Eno or simply as Eno , is an English musician, composer, record producer, singer and visual artist, known as one of the principal innovators of ambient music.Eno studied at Colchester Institute art school in Essex,...
, guitar - 2010: Yohan: The Child WandererYohan: The Child WandererYohan: The Child Wanderer is a 2010 family film directed by Grete Salomonsen. The film is based on true stories about child wanderers in Norway....
- orchestrator
Instrumentals
- 2003: Code 46Code 46Code 46 is a 2003 British film directed by Michael Winterbottom, with screenplay by Frank Cottrell Boyce. It was produced by BBC Films and Revolution Films. It is a disquieting science fiction love story with themes that explore the moral impacts of advances in biotechnology. The soundtrack was...
- guitar - 2003: StanderStander (film)Stander is a 2003 biographical film about Captain André Stander, a South African police officer who turned into a bank robber, starring Thomas Jane.-Reception:...
- guitar - 2004: Ocean's Twelve - guitar
- 2005: The JacketThe JacketThe Jacket is a 2005 psychological thriller film directed by John Maybury that is partly based on the Jack London novel of the same name, released in the US as The Star Rover. Massy Tadjedin wrote the screenplay based on a story by Tom Bleecker and Marc Rocco...
- guitar - 2005: The War WithinThe War Within (film)The War Within is a 2005 American drama film directed by Joseph Castelo. Created by Honet Films and released by Magnolia Pictures, the film stars Ayad Akhtar, Firdous Bamji, Nandana Sen and Sarita Choudhury...
- guitar - 2007: Ocean's ThirteenOcean's ThirteenOcean's Thirteen is a 2007 crime comedy film directed by Steven Soderbergh and starring an ensemble cast. It is the third and final film in the Soderbergh series following the 2004 sequel Ocean's Twelve and the 2001 film Ocean's Eleven, which itself was a remake of the 1960 Rat Pack film Ocean's 11...
- guitaretGuitaretThe Guitaret is an electric lamellophone made by Hohner and invented by Ernst Zacharias, in 1963. Zacharias also invented similar instruments like the Pianet, Cembalet and the Clavinet.... - 2009: State of PlayState of Play (film)State of Play is a 2009 French-British-American political thriller film. It is an adaptation of the six-part British television serial of the same name which first aired on BBC One in 2003. The plot of the six-hour serial was condensed to fit a two-hour movie format, with the location changed to...
- 2009: The Scouting Book for Boys - guitar
- 2009: Everybody's Fine
- 2010: Green ZoneGreen Zone (film)Green Zone is a 2010 American war thriller film written by Brian Helgeland and directed by Paul Greengrass. The film was inspired by the non-fiction 2006 book Imperial Life in the Emerald City by journalist Rajiv Chandrasekaran, which documented life in the Green Zone, Baghdad...
- 2010: Huge
- 2010: The First GraderThe First GraderThe First Grader is a 2010 film directed by Justin Chadwick, starring Naomie Harris, Oliver Litondo, and Tony Kgoroge, and based on the true story of Kimani Maruge, a Kenyan man who enrolled in elementary education at the age of 84 after the Kenyan government announced universal and free elementary...
External links
- Leo Abrahams on MySpaceMySpaceMyspace is a social networking service owned by Specific Media LLC and pop star Justin Timberlake. Myspace launched in August 2003 and is headquartered in Beverly Hills, California. In August 2011, Myspace had 33.1 million unique U.S. visitors....
- Leo Abrahams' Webdiary
- Leo Abrahams on IMDb