Lei Hope

With guitar chords sweeter than broken dates, Lei Hope’s sound jitters somewhere between the deluxe-digital-age psychedelics of indie and R&B. Microdosing genres, Lei creates hi-fi recordings for lo-fi hearts.

Born in Zimbabwe and raised in Leeds, his textured, wide-ranging songs skip between sacred melodies and secular sentiment, all wrapped in a reality-check vocal. At times, his music flickers with a wobbly after-hours milieu, a mallsoft aspartame that displaces it in time. At others, it interlocks with bubble-funk basslines, 8-bit guitar crunch and drums rawer than emotion.

Newly signed to indie heavyweights Heist or Hit (Her’s, Pizzagirl, Nature TV), Lei releases his ‘Matrices’ EP, the follow up to 2021’s debut ‘Autonomous Affection’. Whilst currently rolling out singles from ‘Matrices’, the first single ‘Boyfriend’ found support in the form of BBC 6, DIY Mag, The Line of Best Fit and Spotify Editorial playlists. On the live side, Lei has toured Europe, appeared at Manchester Psych Fest, Liverpool Sound City & Beyond the Music, as well as opening for Phoebe Green, Elephant Kind, Nature TV and Nell Mescal.

With over 100,000 streams on Spotify; a strong following on TikTok and Instagram; and radio credits including BBC 6, BBC Introducing, Amazing Radio, Melodic Distraction, Pie Radio and Unity Radio, the future is bright. Characterised by authentic storytelling and a blend of influences, Lei is positioned as one to watch in 2024.