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Dominique Leone Dominique Leone

• Words: Dave Segal
• Label: Strømland
• XLR8R Rating: 9/10

San Francisco-based singer/multi-instrumentalist/producer Dominique Leone bows with a leftfield-pop classic. This self-titled debut sounds as if it were labored over for years, after immersion in the zenith of prog-rock, avant-garde composition, and art-pop mavericks. The 11 songs here abound with unexpected transitions, unusual electronic embellishments, and melodies of unearthly beauty and intrigue. Leone’s expressive voice by turns recalls Greg Lake, Adrian Belew, and Brian Wilson, craftily augmenting his shape-shifting, spine-tingling compositions. What Battles has done for math rock, Leone is doing for prog-pop: giving it a kitsch-free futuristic thrust that sets the standard for 21st-century practitioners of the genre.