Dig Deep: Leon Lowman – Syntheseas – Syntheseas Records (1980)

Leon Lowman – Friends
Leon Lowman – Flourescent Funk
Leon Lowman – Open
Leon Lowman – Liquid Diamonds

As I somewhat feverishly attempt to shoehorn a few posts in before the end of this 10th year of Melting Pot, I thought this would be an interesting one to highlight even though I know next to nothing about it. This record first came up on my radar four years ago, when multimedia artist/DJ Laura Sofía Pérez included “Friends” in a mix. Though her time in LA was short, I’m always thankful for a music connection and the unique sound stuck in my mind, until finally I decided to track down a copy. I was both surprised and not surprised that all of the sounds on “Syntheseas” were performed by the artist, Leon Lowman.

From the notes on the back cover, Lowman was based in Narragansett, Rhode Island and aside from this album, he released three other cassette only albums in the 1980s. That’s basically all I know, other than he dedicated each of the songs on this album to different individuals and the album as a whole to “all those who love to ride the surf.” I’d never thought of synthy Jazz funk as surf music, but if there ever was a time for that to be the case, 1980 was definitely the time.

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