The Playlist: James Leon unleashes his Zen

Looking to blow the cobwebs off your dry January. Well , The Playlist favourite James Leon has just the elixir for you. It comes in the intoxicating form of his brand new single , the power pop arms aloft anthemics of Zen (To The Power )

Zen ( To The Power ) trails Leon's forthcoming four track EP also entitled Zen. The EP includes the Club Clique remix of previous hedonistic bop I Love The Music (The First Night ). We waxed lyrical about that track from the moment we heard it,

But on Zen ( To The Power ) , Leon has cranked up the clubby pulsing beats and sweet vocals on a call to arms chorus that echoes Erasure meets Years and Years. The track is an aural delight , full of upbeat optimism after a grim 2016 tinged with the 2am haze of a London dancefloor. The London based electro -pop powerhouse has never sounded better. Its swirling , hedonistic and emotive.

The punchy , defiant chorus is an absolute earworm , that builds and builds to a rapturous all out massive attack of pure pop perfection. It sounds current despite some of Leon's past 80's leaning offerings. This time though , that retro vibe sounds like a delightful mix of late 90s dance with modern pop sensibilities. What holds this track and pins it so wonderfully is Leon's swooping , soaring vocal. As ever , he recalls the love child of Andy Bell and Neil Tennant , but his vocal is instinctively his. These comparisons are just subtle nuances of an underrated pop vocalist.

Zen (To The Power ) would not feel out of place on an album by Erasure and The Pet Shop Boys. An easy retro comparison indeed. But its sound and swooping pop puts it firmly in the realm of Years and Years , The 1975 and the very best Scandipop of Robyn , Zara Larsson et al.

The matching video shows a vibrant fast-paced journey through modern London, providing an energy which reflects the heady highs and lows of life in London. From the stark industrial vistas of kings Cross to the disappearing artistic community of Hackney.

The video is directed by the amazing Susan Supecharged. An artist as well as a film maker working from her studio in Hackney Wick. Her films work incorporates a lo-fi hi-fi derived from Burroughs cut up technique. Hailing from the historic East Village Art Music and Fashion scene in 1980's New York, Susan’s personal history is as heady and unique as her artwork. As a model she was known as the model with the super 8, filming as she sashayed down the runway. The films are in the archives of the metropolitan museum in New York, and have shown in exhibitions in US and the ICA in London.

Shes certainly brought the video to life in contemporary London and paints a palette of city life to Leon's high octane track.