Press Play: Leopold and His Fiction

Often people try to plan for life, and life has other plans. Most of us have a true north when it comes to our goals and dreams, but we don’t know exactly what streets, highways or backroads we must take to reach our destination.  We don’t plan for pit stops for nourishment, breakdowns, potholes, refuels or delays because circumstances didn’t go as planned or as imagined. What we do always know is the general direction we are headed. A new year is an opportunity to check in with ourselves to make sure we are navigating towards our chosen destination.  However, sometimes it can be stressful if we take our eyes off what’s in front us and begin to pay attention to how much faster the other drivers seem to be going. The truth is we are all headed in different directions and where we end up is exactly where we are supposed to be.  The beginning of the year is a good time to share an artist who reminds us that even if we take detours or slow down the point is to keep pressing forward until you reach your purpose. Leopold and his fiction is a great example to remind listeners of this lesson. Creator of the band, Daniel James, took different avenues before starting the band. Here are 5 reasons to press play on Leopold and His Fiction.

1. James began his love for music by listening to Motown. He took a different route with the band’s sound by taking the root of dingy, punk garage sounds. However, if listeners listen closely enough you can hear the artist love for Motown in some of his tunes.
2. Listeners can expect lyrics to be well written because James is a pupil of writing. Before finding his path in music James studied fiction writing at San Francisco State. His experience and love for writing easily crossed over into his music. Listeners can expect to hear carefully crafted lyrics alongside with meticulous guitar work.
3. All the albums are nameless. The band may want the music to speak for itself. They leave a void of a theme so that listeners can create their own meaning from the lyrics, and the sounds.  In a sense, they allow listeners to take their own direction with the music. Listeners are given the freedom to find their own true north in the album.
4. James has a great philosophy about what it means to be an entertainer. He recently told SF Gate in an interview, “Being an entertainer is just about confidence – not being egotistical but really, really owning what you do and connecting with something inside and projecting it out. In the end, I work every single day for it, rehearsing, rehearsing, rehearsing.”
5. If he wasn’t a musician, he would be a librarian. The artist says he would want to spend his time helping people gain knowledge that they should have in their heads.

Be sure to press play on Leopold and His Fiction.