Mitchell Leonard releases new single “session_operators”

Brooklyn-based pianist and composer Mitchell Leonard has enjoyed an enduring career as an accomplished pioneer blurring the lines between sound, visuals and story. Known for his innovative electronic stylings and his integration of animation, Mitchell has crafted a truly unique artistic output that takes listeners to dreamlike spheres of emotion and imagination.

His passion for blending different creative disciplines has led to collaborations with some of the most exciting visual artists in the industry. His partnership with Adult Swim animator Qieer Wang resulted in “MA1NFRAME,” a groundbreaking animated music video that was named one of Creative Review’s 10 best of the year. Another project, the stop-motion animation video “Come Downstairs,” showcased his talent for pairing engaging visuals with piano-centred electronic compositions.

Sharing his highly original sonic vision for over a decade, in 2013 he dropped his debut EP, The Barrelhouse, which he’s since followed up with several singles and remixes over the years. His weekly live-streamed show, Lullabies for Electric Minds, which airs on Twitch and YouTube, has become a cornerstone of his artistic vision, showcasing his ability to craft ethereal soundscapes while connecting directly with an audience in real time.

Now he brings us his latest indie electronic track titled “session_operators,” the latest example of his talent for combining sonic and conceptual elements into a stellar work of art. The track was inspired by his live-streaming experiences, where he realised that he and other streamers weren’t just performing, they were guiding audiences through emotional and sensory landscapes, shaping the experience moment by moment. This insight became the foundation for “session_operators,” a piece that builds on the role of the artist as an architect of immersive worlds.

Brought in by subtly ominous synth tones, his spacey, processed vocals enter with delicate melodic flourishes to craft a hazy dreamscape that filters his intricate songwriting through a minimal arrangement. Gliding over the gently drifting textures, his voice, wrapped in heavy computer filtering, adds dashes of bright hues to the hypnotic track which thematically forges a world in which the artist is the operator who guides the audience into a shared creative space, where the session is as much theirs as it is the artist’s.

It’s a stunning distillation of his vivid artistic conceptualisation, presented via an original, experimental pop style. Paired with the single is an immersive lyric video, brought to life in collaboration with the talented animator and director Jared D. Weiss, which delivers a retro-tech inspired visual experience to perfectly accompany the muisc.

Watch the music video for session_operators below