Breathe Of My Leaves

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Here's the news!
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: August 2022
Breathe Of My Leaves
breatheofmyleaves@gmail.com

- Breathe Of My Leaves release single “Sweet Music Man” on August 19th, 2022 from forthcoming full-length album project�The single is the third in a series before a new album

// Vancouver, BC, Canada – Breathe Of My Leaves, comprised of Stephano Barberis (music) and Jordan Gant (vocals/lyrics), are releasing “Sweet Music Man” on August 19th, 2022 across all streaming platforms.

“Sweet Music Man” follows up the successful singles “Us” and “Avalon” that became runaway hits on electronic and pop radio stations across North America, Europe/UK, Australia and the Middle East earlier this year.

The song is an electrified cover of Kenny Rogers’ country classic ballad from the 1970’s which has been covered by other major artists like Reba McEntire and Dolly Parton. “Sweet Music Man” was written by Kenny Rogers after a flight from Los Angeles to Nashville when he sat next to Jessi Colter (Waylon Jennings’ wife).

The track hasn’t been turbo-charged in this reinterpreted way before with thunderous analogue synths in a storm of swirling electronics and arpeggiating stabs. It’s a complete reinvention that draws inspiration from Erasure, ABBA, Giorgio Moroder and Pet Shop Boys, converting the bittersweet love song into an epic, building, and frenetically uplifting piece of melodic energy.

Barberis had fallen in love with the song ever since it was released by Reba McEntire in 2001 (not knowing it was a Kenny Rogers cover). When he approached Gant about singing this, he agreed immediately, having been a fan of the Kenny Rogers version since childhood. Both were channeling different versions in their minds and the end product is quite the unique piece of music.

A new bonus track “Every Atom An Oscillator” is also included on the single release, as is the dancefloor-detonating Warrior Mix of previous single “Avalon.”

“Sweet Music Man” hints at a rather big-sounding, analogue-synth drenched forthcoming album with equally passionate vocals and rapturous melodies, and further sets a foundation to prepare for it. The song is produced and mixed by Stephano Barberis and mastered by Reza Udhin.

Breathe Of My Leaves is an electronic music project created 20 years ago by Stephano Barberis experimenting with sounds. It slowly crystallised into the entity it is now when the Apocalypse Lovers EP and first album Pangeometrica were released in 2013 (including the singles “Cyclops,” “Lost In Love,” “We Kissed As Leaves Swirled Around Us,” “Sugarcoated Shrapnel“ and “Exalt”).

Stephano Barberis is a multiple-award winning director who directed the visuals for Erasure’s latest “Neon Tour” and their music video for “Time (Hearts Full Of Love)” in addition to over 200 other music videos and is the recipient of over 40 directorial and video awards. Jordan Gant is an established singer, songwriter and producer who was previously a part of pop duo Escape The Audience, who were represented by the same management team as The Killers.

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Breathe Of My Leaves



// Breathe Of My Leaves release Christmas single “River” on November 4th, 2022. The single is a one-off seasonal song and won’t be on the forthcoming album. //

Vancouver, BC, Canada – Breathe Of My Leaves, comprised of Stephano Barberis (music) and Jordan Gant (vocals/lyrics), are releasing “River” on November 4th, 2022 across all streaming platforms.

“River” follows up the successful singles “Us,” “Avalon” and “Sweet Music Man” that became runaway hits on electronic and pop radio stations across North America, Europe/UK, Australia and the Middle East earlier this year. The song, initially intended as a bonus track on a forthcoming single now pushed to early next year, was recorded as a loving “THANK YOU” to fans and DJ’s/radio stations for the astounding support they received throughout 2022.

The Christmas-themed song is a classic written by Canadian songwriting titan Joni Mitchell – one of the most talented and successful songwriters in Canada’s history. The introspective and sad lyrics are about the loneliness Mitchell felt at Christmas after a relationship breakup when she had moved to LA.

“We decided last minute to record a Christmas song in the middle of working on the forthcoming album, so we put that on hold and switched gears,” Barberis says. He added, “It’s such a gorgeous song that’s been covered so beautifully by Sarah McLachlan as well, so we wanted to take a different direction with it that still hopefully does it justice. We added a bit of an urgency and angst, converting the jazz-cadenced original into a heavier, synth-drenched ballad. Jordan’s versatile vocal really gets emotional to great effect, from vulnerable to powerfully operatic.” Then Barberis makes an admission: “I never really listened to the lyrics of the song and only realised it was a sad song about loneliness and yearning for the past after we began working on it!”

Gant states, “This is Breathe Of My Leaves. This is what we do – create music that embodies feeling and emotion in a way that is never going to be predictable or mainstream. I am only interested in pushing myself vocally or softening my vocal performance in ways that I never thought I would.” Delving in deeper, he cheekily states “I am proud of this song. Because… why do it? It is depressing as hell for Christmas! But that is Breathe Of My Leaves. We create real art in the most simple yet random way.”

The song (produced and mixed by Stephano Barberis and mastered by Reza Udhin) won’t feature on the forthcoming album next year, which promises to be a rather big-sounding, analogue-synth drenched album with equally passionate vocals and rapturous melodies. A new official kick-off single for the project arrives early next year in the form of "an epic, melodic space ballad about God" (that's been compared to ABBA and Erasure colliding at Eurovision).

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Quick facts about Joni Mitchell’s “River” from Wikipedia:

- “River” holds second place among Mitchell's songs most recorded by other artists (“Both Sides Now” being first). In 2021, it was ranked at No. 247 on Rolling Stone's "Top 500 Best Songs of All Time".

- The song is about the recent breakup of a romantic relationship, with the singer longing to escape her painful emotional bonds. It is thought to be inspired by Mitchell's 1968–1970 relationship with Graham Nash Although the song is merely set near Christmas time, rather than being about Christmas, it has become something of a modern Christmas standard. Writer Will Blythe believes the song is connected to a visit to Chapel Hill that Mitchell made with then beau James Taylor and a caroling session with his family, the Taylor family, and Mitchell.
- The piano accompaniment to the vocal borrows heavily from the tune to the 19th-century winter song "Jingle Bells".
- Other artists who have covered “River”: Barry Manilow, Sarah McLachlan, Ellie Goulding (UK #1 hit), Sam Smith, Judy Collins, Harry Styles, Olivia Rodrigo, Madeleine Peyroux, Gretta Ray, Delta Goodrem, James Taylor, Ben Platt, and multiple others.

- MORE ABOUT BREATHE OF MY LEAVES –

Breathe Of My Leaves is an electronic music project created 20 years ago by Stephano Barberis experimenting with sounds. It slowly crystallised into the entity it is now when the Apocalypse Lovers EP and first album Pangeometrica were released in 2013 (including the singles “Cyclops,” “Lost In Love,” “We Kissed As Leaves Swirled Around Us,” “Sugarcoated Shrapnel“ and “Exalt”).

Stephano Barberis is a multiple-award winning director who directed the visuals for Erasure’s latest “Neon Tour” and their music video for “Time (Hearts Full Of Love)” in addition to over 200 other music videos and is the recipient of over 40 directorial and video awards. Jordan Gant is an established singer, songwriter and producer who was previously a part of pop duo Escape The Audience, who were represented by the same management team as The Killers.

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