In the beginning, was The Chordaes, the indie-pop/folk rock project Leo founded in 2014 with drummer and middle school buddy Ethan Glenn. Leo and Ethan were soon joined by bass player Jesse Serrano (who frequently plays live with Leo still) and Max Ventura on keyboards. Over the years, with a few changes in personnel, the gang played clubs in NYC and the Jersey Shore, including such iconic spots as NYC’s Mercury Lounge and The Saint in Asbury Park, NJ, as well as touring the East coast before Leo went solo in 2020.

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Under the guidance of Grammy-winning producer Marc Swersky (Joe Cocker, Roger Daltrey), Leo wrote and recorded an album and 2 EPs, plus a few singles, with The Chordaes. It’s a catalogue that combines musical sophistication with heart-on-your-sleeve emotion in songs about love hoped for, lost, or just out of reach, about the struggles of young people searching for connection and trying to find their way in 2010s America (while still having some fun). “For me,” says Leo, “the key to great music is the push and pull between complexity and raw emotion. I want to tug at people’s heartstrings and their brains.”

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The Chordaes…aren’t fitting in with anything;

they are redefining everything.” 

- Popdose

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"Hook-laden, addictive and infused with heartfelt emotion, this is a

wonderfully crafted pop song...monstrously infectious."

- Record of the Day

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