Len Leise – Music For Forests

International Feel label boss Mark Barrott loves obscure library music. An avid collector, he is forever searching it out in far flung parts of the world, heading off on lengthy journeys with the hope of finding that one tape or record that might bring a new sense of meaning and diversity to his collection.

On one such trip a few years ago he found a cassette release from what appeared to be a library composer called Len Leise at the bottom of a bargain bin in a charity shop in Paris. Titled Songs for Sunsets it was self released and featured what sounded like the early use of synths, drum machines and oceanic percussion. There was little information about Len, no dates of the recordings, contact information or clues that could lead to the artist´s exact whereabouts. What was known was that the tape was made in Australia and consisted of 8 songs that all played on different themes around the sun.

Barrott got some people in Australia to do a bit of detective work (he was lucky to have a friend working at the ABC in Sydney), and they eventually tracked Len to somewhere in the Dandenong Ranges in eastern Victoria. Len revealed to Mark that he had destroyed the original masters of Songs for Sunsets, but after a lengthy correspondence Barrott persuaded him to get back into the studio and record some new material. On a recent trip to Melbourne it finally happened―inspired by Leise´s time in the Ranges, Music for Forests is the result.