CLEO REED

A student of Black underground sound and intention, Cleo Reed (née Ella Josephine Julia Moore) is a multi-disciplinary artist whose practice uses participatory art, music composition, instrument-making, bandleading, installation, and fabric arts. Raised in Uptown NYC and DC, Reed’s history with music starts with classical training in percussion at Harlem School of the Arts, to playing guitar and songwriting in the influential New York punk band Pretty Sick, to studying sound engineering and sound design at Berklee College of Music. Since releasing their debut album Root Cause in 2023—including a limited physical release with Vinyl Me, Please—Reed has emerged as a bold, rising talent, forging forward while staying firmly rooted in their ancestral and cultural lineage.

Reed’s sophomore LP CUNTRY (released July 17, 2025) is a sprawling folk-electronic offering exploring the rage that comes with grappling with the grips of labor — both on the body and in the American workplace. A double LP, Side A pulls influence from the canon of American work songs — blues, soul, folk, and country. Side B, sonically dystopian and electronic forward, references the format with a more rap-centric approach. The dueling sides symbolize the binary, as well as the opposing forces represented in Reed’s New York City upbringing vs. her family’s southern roots. The project features contributions from artists such as Immanuel Wilkins, Nick Hakim, Mike Haldeman, Annahstasia, Elliott Skinner, Matthew Jamal, and Momo Boyd of Infinity Song.

The album is just the beginning of the story, as Reed prepares for a theatrical performance as a part of their residency at Abrons Art Center slated for Spring 2026, and plans to tour the album and installation with national dates to be announced. CUNTRY is Reed’s statement of purpose — introducing a young, visionary artist with a singular voice and an unwavering commitment to honoring those that came before while subverting the status quo.