Leif Vollebekk
Leif Vollebekk played at End Of The Road Festival 2010.
A visit to his Plateau apartment in Montreal reveals an endless collection of records from Bob Dylan to Ray Charles. An avid fan of vinyl, Leif wrote half the songs for his own, “Inland”, while studying Icelandic and Philosophy in Reykjavik, Iceland. The other half were written upon his return home, where he recorded and self-produced the album a short time later at Montreal’s Breakglass studio (Wolf Parade, Patrick Watson, Besnard Lakes). Arranged and orchestrated entirely by Leif, "Inland" is primarily centered around Leif’s acoustic guitar and story-telling, featuring string quartets on occasion, piano at times, and splashes of harmonica and drums.
“Inland” was released by Nevado Records (Bahamas, Yukon Blonde) on January 19 2010 (Canada), garnering rave reviews and critical acclaim both in Canada and internationally. With upcoming releases in Europe and USA, Leif will be busy touring the world for the rest of 2010. In between tours, he is also working on a second album with famed producer Howard Bilerman (Arcade Fire, Godspeed…) at Hotel2Tango in Montreal, which will be released sometime in 2011.
When asked to describe the new album, Leif says, "Neil Young wanted to sound like a cross between Dylan and the Stones. I want to sound like Hank Williams meets Sigur Ros. Hopefully, I'll fail and get somewhere else."