Patrick Lehman

http://www.patricklehmanmusic.com/int-musician - International Musician

Patrick Lehman is proof that three years of classical vocal training can't erase a childhood of listening to Motown and Stax records.
After listening to "Stop Pretending," the lead single off last year's independently released Soul Kitchen Vol. 2, it would be easy to assume the singer is from Memphis, rather than his hometown of Montreal.
"It’s just the music I grew up listening to with my parents, so I've always been exposed to that," he says over the phone, speaking in a deep voice that sounds as if it's being filtered through the baritone sax that gives "Stop Pretending" so much of its flavour.
"Classical training focused on operas and arias, and just a lot of technical aspects of your voice, that sort of thing," he says. "It’s about the technical side of singing, while soul music is just whatever comes out, so I guess I've been influenced by soul more than I realized."

Lehman, who was an early standout in our Searchlight competition despite not moving on, says he's equally as influenced by Bill Withers and Stevie Wonder as he is by the Rolling Stones and Creedence Clearwater Revival. That would explain his eclectic approach to recording Soul Kitchen Vol. 2, which also forays into singer-songwriter ("I Just Want Love") and rock ("Woman for Me"), even if everything ends up being filtered through soul. The latter, for instance, would seem to owe more to Lenny Kravitz than Mick Jagger.

"I was trying to make an album by concentrating on the songs themselves rather than the overall sound," says Lehman, who also wrote, arranged and produced the album.
The overall result is an album that holds its own with any of the young soul revivalists of today, from Michael Kiwanuka to Mayer Hawthorne, even if Lehman hasn't reached their levels of exposure yet. For now, he's Canada's best kept soul secret.

"A lot of people don’t realize that an overnight success sometimes takes nine years," he says with a laugh, adding that he's been making monthly visits to New York City for the last year — the home of Daptone Records, as well as a big audience for soul music — in an effort to increase his exposure.

"I was actually surprised when I started performing there because I wasn't blown away by the performers I was seeing," he says. "I just thought the calibre would be much higher and it would be a lot tougher. I mean, I've seen some great performers as well, but in a way it just gave me some confidence, like OK, I can handle this city."

And if all goes according to plan, Lehman could also be handling Amsterdam this summer, as a European label plans to release Soul Kitchen Vol. 2 in the Netherlands in May.

"There’s a pocket for soul music that I never knew about," he says. "They have whole radio stations there just dedicated to playing soul music, old and new, and apparently there was an article about me in the Dutch People magazine, so it's kind of cool."

It could be just the break Lehman's been looking for, not that he feels the pressure.

"It’s still just crazy for me that because I wrote a couple songs it’s going to get me a trip to the Netherlands," he says.

Patrick Lehman plays Montreal April 4 and 5, and Toronto April 18. Visit Patricklehmanmusic.com for details. - CBC Music

Off the buzz created from his soulful 2011 EP, The Electric Soul Kitchen Vol. 1, Montreal-based R&B singer Patrick Lehman has left soul music fans wanting more. With a mature, church-honed voice that belies his relative newness to the game – and musical influences as varied as Stevie Wonder, Fleetwood Mac and the Roots to draw from – there’s an unequivocal “next big thing” aura around him. And in talking to Lehman as he puts the finishing touches on his followup project (slated for release in the coming months), he offers that people will definitely want more of what he’s got cooking.

Q: How happy were you with the feedback for The Electric Soul Kitchen Vol. 1?

A: People seemed to like it, which was cool. Everybody was comparing it to a lot of people I looked up to for a long time. I was worried when putting it out that it might be reaching into too many genres, but people responded to it really well I think. It wasn’t too much to go from soul in one song to a bit more urban hip-hop in another, and to something that’s a bit more acoustic. That’s always been my dream: I always wanted to blend stuff. I look up to people like K-OS, who did it so easily from one song to the next – rock ’n’ roll to rap to anything.

Q: Can you talk about your love of hip-hop and how that comes out in your music?

A: I grew up listening to hip-hop. I grew up in the days of Missy Elliot, Puff Daddy – that was my start I guess with rap. I moved on to the Roots, Talib Kweli, I guess more conscious rap. How it comes out in my music is rhythmically: A song like “Paper” on my last project had a somewhat urban feel to it – somewhat rap and R&B. I don’t do it consciously; I think it just comes out in my arrangements. I just try to write songs that I would like to listen to. I want to be proud of it at the end of the day.

Q: What topics or themes do you like to tackle in your music?

A: I always like to write about what’s going on in my life. It could be a breakup song, relationship or love song. I don’t think that anyone can escape that unless they are talking about something very political or [what not]. But I do like to include a couple of songs that are more about social issues I would say.

Q: How would you describe your sound as a Canadian artist?

A: I guess I would have to say organic soul. I definitely consider my sound at its base to be soul music with rock ’n’ roll influences. Like I said, the new album is a bit more organic in the sense that there are some songs that are very Motown sounding and then there are songs that are a bit more R&B rock like Lenny Kravitz. Just in the sense that there are a lot of live drums – I mean that there are some samples but I wanted to bring a lot more musicians and have that raw sound to it.

Q: What can people expect with the new album coming out soon?

A: It’s a little bit more organic and it’s a little bit more of the same. It’s a blend of style. To me it’s a touch of rock, a touch of soul and hip-hop and other things. That’s what I was going for: I basically wanted my album to sound like “The Seed” by the Roots. I guess that’s a little presumptuous but I was trying my best with that. - CBC Music

The Electric Soul Kitchen, Vol. 1 [EP]
Jamie O'Meara

Former Vanier and Concordia music student Patrick Lehman clearly went to his local Rona and asked for the super-sized, extra-wide musical palette, so many are the compositional colours splashed across this primed and polished, six-song debut. Lehman is deeply seated in the grooves of this record, and seamlessly breezes between warm soul and funked-up R&B tinted with gospel, jazz, blues and rock, referencing but never robbing predecessors like Sly and the Family Stone, The Fugees and Fleetwood Mac, to name but a few. Say hi to the newest player in the game. - The Hour Magazine

Publié le 27 Février 2013
Véronique Leduc

Six mois après le lancement de son troisième album Electric Soul kitchen Vol.II, l'auteur-compositeur-interprète résident de L'Île-Bizard, Patrick Lehman, est en pleine tournée. En plus de se déplacer dans plusieurs villes du Canada et des États-Unis, l'artiste de 27 ans qui fait de la musique soul ira fort probablement aux Pays-Bas où une maison de disque veut mettre la main sur son dernier opus.

Au moment où le Cités Nouvelles l'a rencontré, Patrick Lehman était de retour de Québec où il avait donné un spectacle et se préparait pour une représentation à Ottawa. A suivi ensuite Toronto, le New Hampshire, le Vermont et New-York. En mars, au tour des amoureux de musique de la Nouvelle-Écosse et du Nouveau-Brunswick de découvrir le chanteur.

Comment trouve-t-il la vie d'artiste en tournée? «C'est beaucoup de va-et-vient chaque fin de semaine, mais je suis content. Même si faire beaucoup de route en hiver c'est difficile, c'est le fun d'être occupé. En avril, on prendra une pause avant la tournée d'été», mentionne celui qui puise son inspiration chez des musiciens comme Stevie Wonder et Neil Young.

À cinq sur la route

En spectacle, l'auteur-compositeur est accompagné de quatre musiciens; un guitariste, un bassiste, un claviériste et un batteur. Depuis deux ans, il est avec le même quintette. «Tous des gars d'écoles de musique de Montréal. Des musiciens jazz», précise-t-il. Dans le cadre de la tournée, il présente huit des 10 pièces du nouvel opus. La formation présente aussi des chansons des deux CD précédents et reprend quelques pièces d'autres artistes comme Superstition de Stevie Wonder.

«La plupart du temps, on est tout le groupe, mais des fois comme à Québec, on présente les chansons en trio. C'est plus acoustique», souligne-t-il.

Musique des années 1970

Electric Soul kitchen Vol.II est disponible sur iTunes et amazon.ca On ne le retrouve pas en magasin car l'artiste n'a pas de distributeur officiel. C'est Patrick Lehman lui-même qui a écrit, produit et réalisé les arrangements de l'album.


«Ça me donne plus de contrôle sur ma musique. Je m'occupe de tout de A à Z. C'est l'album dont je suis le plus fier. Il est chaleureux, composé des vrais sons. Il n'y a rien d'électronique. Je le compare aux albums des années 1970. Il est tel que je le voulais. C'est le plus abouti à mon avis.»

Toutefois, comme la production à compte d'auteur demande beaucoup de travail, le musicien essaye de trouver une maison de disque et un agent. «C'est certain que j'apprends beaucoup en faisant tout moi-même, mais ça me donne moins de temps pour faire ce que je préfère, soit écrire, composer et chanter», indique-t-il.

D'ici à ce qu'un agent d'ici s'intéresse à l'artiste, une compagnie des Pays-Bas l'a contacté pour mettre son produit en marché. «Ils m'ont appelé en novembre. Le lancement aura lieu en mars. Ils vont d'abord sortir un monoplage d'une de mes pièces. Si le public accroche, il y a aura une tournée là-bas», raconte celui qui a étudié la musique classique au cégep Vanier et le jazz à l'Université Concordia. - Cité Nouvelles