Draft:Somni (musician)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected from Draft:Somni)
  • Comment: Sources need to accurate verify the statements. For example, the single source used for "He is best known for his melodic and experimental production style, with heavy use of creative layering techniques and unusual textures" cannot justify this statement. Greenman (talk) 11:56, 27 May 2023 (UTC)

[edit]

Somni
Birth nameLeo Shulman
BornHampshire, United Kingdom
Occupation(s)Music producer • singer-songwriter • multi-instrumentalist
LabelsFriends of Friends

Leo Shulman, known professionally as Somni, is a British-American record producer, singer/songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist based in Los Angeles, California.[1] Starting his career as a producer of mainly instrumental beat-driven electronic music, Somni gradually incorporated his vocals and songwriting into his productions, blending genres like indie folk and lo-fi hip hop with the sound of the left-field electronic music associated with Low End Theory and the LA beat scene.[2]

Early life and education[edit]

Shulman was born in Hampshire, England to a family of mostly classical musicians, most notable of which is his father, cellist Andrew Shulman.[3][4] He became interested in music at a young age, taking classical guitar lessons as well as learning percussion, bass, and piano.[2] At age 8, Shulman moved to Los Angeles with his family.[5]

During high school, Shulman became inspired by electronic acts like Amon Tobin and Portishead as well as hip hop artists like A Tribe Called Quest and J Dilla, all of which pushed his foray into music production.[2][1] After high school he attended college as a jazz guitar major at The New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music in NYC.[4]

Career[edit]

Somni signed with LA-based label Friends of Friends in 2018 for his debut album Bloom, a beat-driven electronic work made while living in San Francisco over the course of 3-4 years with numerous revisions and reinventions along the way.[6][7] This obsessive process resulted in a densely layered album, full of organic sounds and samples manipulated into melody.[8][9]

Somni’s 2020 follow up Home, also on Friends of Friends, began to combine his heavily layered production style with his penchant for melody and lyricism.[1] This pivot into songwriting resulted in a warped and manipulated R&B sound, with pitched vocals and heavily textured, nostalgic beats.[8][3] Home received positive reviews from publications like Pigeons and Planes, NPR, Exclaim!, and Passion of the Weiss.[1][2][3][10]

After Home came a few scattered projects and singles. Beats Vol. 1, a collection of sample-based hip hop beats, came out late 2020, and Up Too Early Vol. 2 was a compilation album released March 2021, in which Somni enlisted some of his close friends and collaborators to bring an album of what Mixmag described as "lush ambient for the daydreamers who float around in the early hours."[8][11][12]

In late 2021, Somni released a collaboration with producer Harris Cole titled Sirens EP, which Max Bell of Bandcamp Daily claimed “bridged gaps between ambient, electronic, hip-hop, lo-fi, and each producer’s respective sound.”[13]

In May 2022, Somni released 2 songs through the Spotify Singles program in collaboration with Astralwerks and Blue Note Records: one original song, "Envy", and one cover song, "Hybrid Moments" by the Misfits.[14]

In October 2022, Somni released a single, "Running", which also included a b-side remix of the original track, titled "Falling".[15]

In September 2023, Somni released his third album Gravity, described by Flood Magazine as "a personal record that takes an introspective look at the weight of life."[16] This album saw Somni expanding his musical palette to more complex beats and a more natural vocal sound (in contrast to Home's manipulated, sped up vocal sound), and was inspired by folk and indie singer/songwriters like Townes Van Zandt and Elliott Smith alongside the sound of the LA beat scene.[17][18]

Discography[edit]

Studio albums[edit]

  • Bloom (2018)
  • Home (2020)
  • Gravity (2023)

Compilation albums[edit]

  • Beats Vol. 1 (2020)
  • Somni Presents: Up Too Early Vol. 2 (2021)

EPs[edit]

  • Sirens EP (2021) (with Harris Cole)
  • Running In Place (2023) (with imagiro)

Singles & features[edit]

  • "Overgrown" (2018)
  • "Girl / In Waves" (2018)
  • "Owls" (2019) (with Powermitts)
  • "Grown Into You" (2019)
  • "Grown Into You (quickly, quickly remix)" (2019)
  • "FOF10: Noodling" (2019) (with Harris Cole)
  • "One Last Time" (2020)
  • "Sometimes" (2020) (with Harris Cole)
  • "Home - Sweatson Klank Remix" (2020)
  • "Getting Through To You" (2020) (with Shrimpnose & Daedelus)
  • "Home (Louis Futon Remix ft. Tommy Foy)" (2020)
  • "Hunger / Ease Up" (2020)
  • "Always" (2021) (with Duren)
  • "Hope!" (2021) (with Harris Cole)
  • "Drift" (2022)
  • "Smoke Blanket" (2022) (with Shrimpnose & quickly, quickly)
  • "Spotify Singles" (2022)
  • "hurt" (2022) (with Criibaby)
  • "Running" (2022)
  • "Running (imagiro UKG Remix)" (2022)
  • "Lost" (2023) (with Harris Cole)
  • "Gravity" (2023) (with quickly, quickly)
  • "Cracks" (2023)
  • "Jupiter" (2023) (with Shrimpnose & Joe Nora)

Remixes[edit]

  • Tomas Barfod - "Grandiose - Somni Remix" (2018)
  • Shrimpnose - "So Long For Now (Somni Remix)" (2020)
  • Billie Holiday - "I've Got My Love To Keep Me Warm (Somni Remix)" (2020)
  • Dylan Thomas Griffin - "Capsules (Somni Remix)" (2021)
  • Afternoon Bike Ride - "Rise Again (Harris Cole & Somni Remix)" (2022)
  • Smokey Robinson & The Miracles - "You've Really Got A Hold On Me (Somni Remix)" (2022)
  • YellowStraps - "tnght [Somni remix]" (2022)

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d "Best New Artists of the Month (April)". Complex. Retrieved 2023-03-20.
  2. ^ a b c d Hampson, Ashley (2020-03-24). "Somni - Home". Exclaim!.
  3. ^ a b c "Homecoming: On Somni's Home". Passion of the Weiss. 2020-04-02. Retrieved 2023-03-20.
  4. ^ a b Thornhill, James (2020-04-09). "Somni". Electronic Sound. Retrieved 2023-03-20.
  5. ^ "One Night Stand Episode 6 Ft Somni, Gorgeous and Walt Disco". Amazing Radio. Retrieved 2023-03-20.
  6. ^ "Album of the Day: Somni, "Bloom"". Bandcamp Daily. 2018-08-15. Retrieved 2023-03-20.
  7. ^ "Beat Scene High Score: Questing Through Somni's Adventurous Debut". Passion of the Weiss. 2018-08-22. Retrieved 2023-03-20.
  8. ^ a b c "The Best Beat Tapes on Bandcamp: October 2020". Bandcamp Daily. 2020-11-03. Retrieved 2023-03-20.
  9. ^ "The Best Beat Tapes of 2018". Bandcamp Daily. 2018-12-18. Retrieved 2023-03-20.
  10. ^ Hilton, Robin (2020-03-27). "New Music Friday: The Top 9 Albums Out On March 27". NPR.
  11. ^ "Up Too Early: An Interview with Leeor Brown and Somni". Passion of the Weiss. 2021-03-12. Retrieved 2023-03-20.
  12. ^ "The best albums and EPs of the year 2021 so far - March". Mixmag. Retrieved 2023-03-20.
  13. ^ "The Best Beat Tapes on Bandcamp: October 2021". Bandcamp Daily. 2021-11-02. Retrieved 2023-03-20.
  14. ^ Schube, Will (2022-05-05). "Astralwerks And Blue Note Records Team Up With Spotify For Latest Lo-Fi Release". uDiscover Music. Retrieved 2023-03-20.
  15. ^ "Somni returns with his double single "Running/Falling"". Friends of Friends Music. 26 October 2022. Retrieved 2023-03-20.
  16. ^ "Somni Shares Downtempo Electronic Meditation "Cracks"". FLOOD. Retrieved 2023-11-06.
  17. ^ "Somni's Soul-Searching And Gravity". Passion of the Weiss. 2023-09-20. Retrieved 2023-11-06.
  18. ^ Callwood, Brett (2023-12-20). "Somni Weighs In with Gravity - LA Weekly". www.laweekly.com. Retrieved 2023-12-23.

Category:Music production Category:Musicians Category:Record producers from California Category:English electronic musicians Category:American electronic musicians Category:American hip hop record producers Category:English hip hop musicians Category:Jazz musicians Category:Classical musicians Category:Jazz guitarists Category:Trip hop musicians Category:Alternative hip hop musicians Category:American experimental musicians Category:English experimental musicians

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Draft:Somni_(musician)&oldid=1209071728"