Some Day Soon

How refreshing to find a performer as young as Kristian Leontiou actually participating in writing the songs that he sings and being concerned with the quality and integrity of his work, rather than being just another fame-hungry, inanely grinning wannabe in yet another tragic boyband, desperate to be liked. How nice to find a (proper) CD which is great from start to finish, is a perfect length-not overly long and not full of filler-with fantastic sound quality, and which is reasonably priced.
I'd never heard of Kristian Leontiou until I saw him on TV recently, singing (live!) his single, The Story of My Life. I liked it so much that I was prompted to go out and buy it a couple of days later-I even liked the other track, Homecoming (not on the album). In fact, I was so impressed by the little bit of his music I'd heard, that I felt compelled to buy his album as soon as it came out, and I was not disappointed in the least: I love it.
It opens with the aforementioned single and continues in the same vein; mature, relaxed, mellow, melodic, aching and slightly melancholy. Mr. Leontiou's voice is gorgeous: it's warm and soulful without ever going into vocal hysterics or trying too hard-it is most certainly NOT, as the Amazon review cruelly called it, 'an 'R&B whine'. Were they listening to the same album? It's also very inaccurate of that review to say that his music is 'geared...towards the coffee table'. To me, coffee table anything (music, books etc.) are left lying around with the sole intent of impressing others, and often not even looked at/listened to by the person who bought them. In this case, the description couldn't be more wrong as I haven't stopped listening to (and enjoying) the album since I bought it.
It's difficult to pick favourites as the quality of the music is so consistent throughout and virtually all of the songs are incredibly catchy and memorable, with great hooks: it really is that good! There's even a very short extra track which can be heard about 30 seconds after the last one ends, though it's still so good that I wonder why it wasn't extended into a full song.
I do hope that this album is as successful as it deserves to be and that we'll be hearing a lot more from Kristian Leontiou in the future. If in doubt, just buy it! A debut to be proud of.

I have found it really hard to try and categorise Kristian's sound (for the purpose of the review), and I have read many reviews in the press trying to as well. (From the male Dido, to a cross between Crowded House and Bryan Adams, to a young David Gray). The closest I suppose could be the Dido comparison, musically at least, because this album is incredibly melodic, beautifully written and beautifully sung. What also makes him heard to categorise is when you see him, you expect something a little harder, (he looks like your typical skater-boy) not mid-tempo ballads, which is what this album is built up of.
Lets not get bogged down in categories. This is a beautifully crafted album, more melancholy than not, and I simply can't stop playing it and singing along (that's the sign of a good album for me - whether I sing the tracks constantly).
From the stunning debut single 'Story of my life', to 'Shining' (which first appeared on the 'Win a date with Tad Hamilton' soundtrack and surely must be the 2nd single), this album has many highlights which make it hard to choose a favourite, but 'Fall And I Will Catch You', 'The Years Move On', 'Caught In The Moment' (this has GOT to be a single - I love the unexpected vocoded female backing vocal) and 'Love Is All I Need' are all worthy of mention. A live favourite (if you get the chance to see him live, this is where his voice is most impressive) is 'Hanging' the most uptempo number on the album (and my best mates favourite).
A beautiful, moving and stunning debut album. Learn how to pronounce his name 'Leon-tee-you' cos you are going to hear his name a lot over the next few months.

In a world of manufactured packaged pop, Kristian presents a little glimmer of hope that talent rather than a good publicist can actually produce results.
A genuine feel-good album that has no pretensions, just good tunes you can hum to.