Monday, 26 August 2013

Presenting Cleo


Borderline and Teardrop are both available here - https://soundcloud.com/cleosol

Here's the video for Borderline


Cleo tempts us with not one but two complimentary musical delights Borderline and Teardrop, both of these are exquisitely produced mashups in which she easily showcases her powerful vocals as well as her unique style and sound.

‘Borderline’ is the start of a new musical direction for Cleo and is a clever twist on Kendrick Lamar’s, ‘The Recipe’, The Fugees’, ‘Ready Or Not’ and Aaliyah’s, ‘More Than a Woman’.

‘Teardrop’ is a beautiful mash-up of The Verve’s ‘Bitter Sweet Symphony’, Massive Attack’s ‘Teardrop’ and Cleo’s lyrics in the opening verse.

Paving the way for a new era of retro-futuristic soul-pop, the track showcases Cleo’s diversity as an artist. She has a style and sound that is truly her own, which along with her powerhouse vocals, make her stand out from the crowd. ‘Teardrop’ is the second new track that Cleo has released for fans to download free.

Here's a biography from the lovely lady herself.

Much like her name suggests, when the sun comes out to play, so does Cleo Sol. Often spotted riding her bike through the back streets of Ladbroke Grove, the basket laden with ingredients for her latest culinary outing, this 21-year old
singer-songwriter draws her greatest inspiration from these here roads. A self
professed technophobe, with as much bounce in her trademark curls as there
is coming out of her studio sessions; things are looking up on the Westside.

“I’d like to think I’m encompassing the best of all genres, contemporary with a live, organic feel. What I’ve got is the ability to make sad songs happy, make things feel quite up….”

Owing her outlook on life to a somewhat bohemian upbringing; born to a Spanish-Serbian mother, a singer (who sung on William Orbit’s album) who inspired Cleo’s love for cycling, swimming and the great outdoors and a Jamaican father (responsible for her seven brothers and sisters) who played double bass. Jazz is the thread that sews it all together. Also a keen lover of art (“I’m best at portraits”), it was music that Cleo felt drawn to the most.

A course at a local youth club and the chance to spend time in a professional recording studio when she was 13 encouraged her to delve into the world of song writing, sowed the seed of what was to come. When in turn her college years arrived, Cleo spent three years studying various performing art disciplines alongside the history of music and performance and music itself.

It was after meeting UK based songwriter and producer DaVinChe (Kano, Tinie Tempah, Tinchy Stryder), via trusty MySpace, that Cleo found herself appearing on her first solo cuts ‘Riding For Love’ with Bashy, ‘Hero’, one of Tinie Tempah’s early outings, ‘Tears’, and experimenting further with different sounds via some big house moments by producer Perempay. It was then that Cleo made the executive decision to spend time playing with different sounds until she unearthed the artist she knew she would become. Testing the waters in 2011, ‘Lovebass’, ‘Call For Me’ and ‘High’ featuring Gappy Ranks received support from BBC Radio 1, 1Xtra, Kiss, Choice, Rinse and beyond, ultimately resulting in a recording contract with Island Records.

No longer juggling part-time jobs, which have included stints at a shoe shop, a salon in Knightsbridge, cleaning an English school in Chiswick and her favourite, working in a chemist, she’ll be melting the hearts of those at Lovebox, T In The Park, Wireless and Lawnfest this summer. Having already wowed crowds earlier this year on the MOBO national tour, the time Cleo’s taken time to master her craft shows.

“I don’t really listen to particular artists – I prefer a good album or sound, whether that’s Latin, Motown, jazz, reggae or pop. Pink’s first album, JT’s ‘Justified’ or ‘The Miseducation Of Lauryn Hill’ – I listen to these all the time.” The likes of Tracy Chapman, Jhené Aiko, Destiny’s Child, Alicia Keys, Astrud Gilberto also get the nod.

Having spent the best part of the last year in the studio, the first track unveiled was ‘Never The Right Time (Who Do You Love)’, championed by Trevor Nelson, Fearne Cotton and Ronnie Herel for starters, it’s another example of how Cleo and DaVinChe fuse perfectly on a song. Summer season saw Cleo team up with Ninja Tune and Radio 1 DJ Toddla T & UK Grime MC Scrufizzer for the Carnival inspired ‘Code To Crack’.


Cleo is now currently in the studio adding the finishing touches to her brand material ready to be released spring / summer. 



Post By - Boulent Mustafa
Twitter - @OBsMusicUk

No comments:

Post a Comment