Awir Leon

AWIR LEON the alter ego of François Przybylski’s originally from Northern France, and now based in Amsterdam, writes and sings a music of air and soul. With this new album, he continues his journey into the hazy spaces of a dreamlike and captivating electronic soul with new album Man Zoo due for release in September.

before he was Awir, François had several lives : as a kid, music was all around, he remembers the sound of the Motown and of traditional African music, printing his own sound with warm tones and physical rhythms.

After 2 EPs, and 2016’s debut LP “Giants” released via Nowadays Records. A European tour led him to new influences with the likes of Flying Lotus, Radiohead and Frank Ocean, using these on top of his earlier influences such as Erykah Badu and Mos Def setting the stage for an elegant and deep universe.

Man Zoo is the work of a singer-songwriter that also has a good knowledge of production, with a desire to keep sounds fresh and pushing himself further for the benefit of the album.

Writing the album with only piano and vocals he enlisted the help his brother, Sylvain Przybylski and music collective Jayfly which he cofounded, J.Kid (UNNO), Floyd Shakim, Ikaz Boi, and new friends like Sebastien Forrester and Damien Rice.

Man Zoo is a collection of tracks which blends his influences together well weaving a rich pattern of soul & hip hop handled with the craftsmanship of a traditional singer songwriter reminiscent of Michael Kiwanuka but adding a more electronic aspect highlighted in the The Other Way and The Choir which expertly showcases the layering of the track. A spontaneity lies beneath the tracks developing them further which makes for an intriguing listen, for all the twists melodic hook are used to great affect in tracks such as What’s Good and Lies Living setting an undercurrent which gels the tracks together.

Watch the video for The Choir the second single taken from the forthcoming album release.