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Leon Vynehall

Music For The Uninvited (10 year anniversary Re-issue)

Leon Vynehall’s critically acclaimed ode to the formative cassette mixtapes of his youth, Music For The Uninvited, celebrates 10 years with a reissue on his Studio Ooze imprint, and comes with 2 previously unreleased bonus tracks, ‘Peaces’ and ‘Blue’, recorded during the same sessions.

There’s a stirring musicality of nostalgic disposition at the heart of Leon Vynehall’s ‘Music From The Uninvited’. Originally released on Martyn’s 3024 imprint in 2014, its premise across seven tracks was sincere yet simple; a strikingly personal tribute to the flow and textures of the cassette mixtape through the sounds of modern dance music. Specifically, it was influenced by Vynehall’s early childhood memories of listening to his Mum’s funk, soul, and hip-hop tape collection while she drove him to and from school. This conceptual infrastructure, paired with its wide-eyed dancefloor inclinations, helped elevate the release beyond its immediate club surroundings into something much grander and widely celebrated.

A warbling textural continuum of tape hiss, aided by the record’s mastering from tape, and Vynehall’s unrivaled knack for melody and hooks forms the celebrated core of Music For The Uninvited. It’s rousingly immersive as a result, enhanced by a symphonic soul courtesy of Laurie Ross (aka Eagle For Hands) and his cello playing on tracks like Inside The Deku Tree

and Be Brave, Clenched Fists. The influence of sampling also looms large, with the record’s anthemic centrepiece It’s Just (House Of Dupree) showcasing this best in its famous inclusion of Willi Ninja’s dialogue from the documentary ‘Voguing: The Message’. Tracks like Goodthing and Pier Children offer the release’s most club-focused moments in their bump’n’swing house moods and grooves. In contrast, the swooning balearia of Christ Air and St. Sinclair offer a gorgeous two-part conclusion to its original tracklist. The previously unreleased Peaces and Blues are both included here for the first time to commemorate the record’s decade anniversary, two tracks recorded in 2013 during the same sessions that are lovingly complementary to the original collection in their warm and low-slung house grooves.

Reflecting on Music For The Uninvited a decade on offers us a wonderful opportunity to celebrate Vynehall’s perennial talent within the modern electronic music landscape, offering a highly personalised glimpse into the early origins of his now singular style. While his output has transformed gloriously since its release, this reissue gives us a timely reminder of the immovable power of music from the heart.