Indie-Pop Artist Leah Dou To Play Debut London Headline Shows As Well As The Great Escape

Chinese born English speaking indie-pop artist Leah Dou is set to play two sold out London headline shows this May, as well as two further dates at The Great Escape festival in Brighton.

At 21 years old, she has built a resumé to put most others to shame. Two successful albums – ‘Stone Café‘ in 2016 and ‘Kids Only’ in 2017 – 250,000 video views and around 400 million streams, the numbers speak for themselves. But, so too does her music.

An accomplished, dreamy pop sound driven by quirky samples and pulsing percussion playfully flits from fast to slow as musical conventions are thrown firmly out of the nearest window. Dou takes risks, and the risks pay off. A song that starts with a harpsichord melody can transcend into a tribal rhythm partnered with heavy guitar – ‘Whistler’s Riddle’. Each track is something fresh and new, making her music an unpredictable and exciting experience.

This may be explained by Dou’s eclectic upbringing. Daughter to two musicians, she spent much of her early life on tour, moving between Hong Kong, Beijing and Japan before settling in the USA to study music at the Interlochen Centre for the Arts. This history of travel can be heard in the sheer range of sounds and influences evident in her music.

It is this distinguished sound that has seen Leah Dou achieve such widespread success. She supported Bastille in 2016 on their world arena tour, completed a sell-out North America club tour in 2017, and played at the renowned Clockenflap Festival in Hong Kong as well as Spring Wave Music and Arts Festival in Taiwan and Summer Sonic in Tokyo. She was even featured as the face of the iPhone X in China.

Following her UK shows, Dou plans to spend time in the studio crafting new material for release later this year. After avidly listening through her first two albums, I can offer little insight into what her future offerings will sound like. Her songs are so varied, it would take a far braver person than me to even attempt to predict what she will release next. all I can say is that this is one artist worth keeping an eye on.