UK-based and 19 years old, Alfie Templeman will release his debut album, Mellow Moon, on May 27 via Chess Club Records/AWAL. Now he shares the album’s “Leaving Today”which was co-produced with Tom McFarland (Jungle) and notes “‘Leaving Today’ was written about what it would be like to go on tour again after so long. Getting far away from home and sitting in that van for hours thinking about all the small things you never realised you missed so much. It’s the first song I’ve played Cello on, I tried to layer up multiple different parts as if it was a mini orchestra of terrible cello players! Tom was super encouraging with the Cello stuff, and he added some really gorgeous production, all the oohs you hear at the start are him.”

Inspired by modern influences like Steve Lacy, Khruangbin and Leon Bridges, as well as Alfie’s constant cosmic guide Todd Rundgren, Mellow Moon flows with an ease that belies its difficult creation. Acting as both an intimate diary entry and a communal call to arms, Mellow Moon is Alfie’s most complete work to date and a platform from which he will surely use to propel himself further into the stratosphere. If ever proof were needed that music is a salvation or a transportative force, this is it. 

Photo Courtesy: Lillie Eiger