Words by Tina Edwards

“This reads like a war story”, says Leon Vynehall, recounting the first time he went through the script for ITV’s harrowing three-part drama, Breathtaking.

Leon was on tour, powering up again after a performance the night before in Amsterdam. “I remember going to a Korean lunch place and continuing to read; I was tired from the show before, reading and… weeping”, says Leon. His eyes scan from left to right as he talks as if he’s back in that moment. “I've never read something before and had tears come out of my eyes. It was so powerful… I knew I really wanted to do it from that point”. Leon is the composer behind the score for ITV’s new three-part drama, Breathtaking, based on the book by Dr Rachel Clarke which tells the story of NHS staff and patients on a COVID-19 ward by drawing on real-life narratives.

I’ve come to visit Leon at his studio in Seven Sisters, North London. From one angle, it feels like a cosy lounge with instruments and books scattered, and rugs underfoot. Elsewhere, a large monitor takes centre stage, with an ascension of synths and MIDI keyboards climbing towards the ceiling on my right. Leon is warm and welcoming, offering me the couch whilst he leans back in his wheeled office chair.

The Ivor Novello nominated producer is also celebrated as a DJ and occasional NTS Radio host. A hugely respected figure in electronic music who doesn’t sit still for too long, Leon’s been increasingly in demand as a composer for the screen, having also worked with Dior recently on their menswear campaigns. But as for Breathtaking? Director Craig Viveiros wanted him to score something more abstract than what you would expect to hear on a primetime, terrestrial drama. “This is some of my best work,” Leon tells me.

“The protagonist in this story is a respiratory disease, so I thought, the instruments that are used—whether they’re synthetic or real—how about I use my lungs to play them?” explains Leon, pointing to a recorder that he used for “atmospheric soundscapes”—the only cliched term to leave his lips during our conversation. “One of the main things I used for low, droning hums, was this synthetic, metal flute that I pitched really low, and I used this thing here—”. He reaches for what looks like a flat-looking keyboard covered in “scuba-suit” material and tells me it’s called an MPE (Midi Polyphonic Expression). “Rather than hitting individual notes, I can blend in between them”, he shows me. “I even at one point thought about going to a butcher's, getting an oesophagus and putting a reed into it to try and make noises out of that…I didn’t in the end”, he laughs, although my suspicions tell me he had his mind set to the idea for at least a while.

Leon reflects on the beginnings of the three week writing period. “When I started watching the show I realised—[with] the performance from the actors, the show's pace, how intense it is—my job here is not to get in the way of all of this stuff. The music here is not another character. I just want to be in service of the story”. Leon tells me he’s feeling choked up by thinking about one character’s storyline in particular, and I can hear it in his voice. “These are real people, real stories of an event, which is arguably the biggest global event that we will all go through in our lifetimes. And it's a story that we haven't been told the full picture of. I felt a real responsibility, morally”.

Leon scores Breathtaking respectfully. He doesn’t patronise the viewer with “insert-here intensity”, nor does he contribute anything that needn’t be there. He enables liberal space for the characters to simply be and supports the story’s most tense and uncomfortable moments without resorting to over-used techniques. “Something that I've been learning to do recently is not crowbar ideas in for the sake of it, just because you've got your mind set on something. It's more about listening to what the song or the piece is asking you to do, rather than what you want to do with it necessarily."

Leon tells me that scoring has been a long-term goal of his. Despite only having a handful of credits so far, he speaks like someone who is far more experienced. “I feel like I have something to say in that world”, says Leon, speaking about composing for picture. “I’m really greedy, creatively. I want to learn about everything; it’s my reason for being alive. My purpose is to make art, create things, and make music."

"The more I can devour, and learn, and grow, the happier I am. Collaborating with filmmakers and the whole machinery of making TV and film excites me so much. I enjoyed Breathtaking—as hard as it was at times, scoring those sad cues—I loved the process. I relished it”, says Leon, speaking a little faster. “I’ve had a great career so far; writing my music, touring live, DJ-ing; I feel like everything that I have learnt and built in that is right for me to use in this arena. I can bring something to the table. Now’s the time. I’m so excited about this next chapter in my creative career”.

More scoring projects are surely on the cards, but one thing that’s for certain is Leon’s forthcoming and much-anticipated next album. “I'm pushing my songwriting capabilities a lot more; I'm trying to feel a little uncomfortable”, shares Leon. “Over the last four or five years, I've been in a more traditional producer role with other artists, helping them to facilitate what they're doing and to navigate their creative process. And whilst I've learned so much about the people that have been in this room, I've learned loads about myself; about how I work, who I am as an artist, and what I want to do”, says Leon.

“My last record, Rare Forever, was kind of about my ego, and about how I was trying to find what my purpose was. What was my bliss? What is it that I should be doing? —versus what people expected of me. Not only was I trying to see how I viewed myself, but in a way, I was exploring how I'm viewed by others and how that affects me”.

There’s more collaboration [on my forthcoming album] in terms of features and singers, which I’ve never done before. A lot of my work is narrative and thematic and it’s never really asked for other people to be on it, other than myself”, says Leon.

“[David] Bowie said you should never fulfil other people's expectations of what they think that you should be doing. And this record definitely doesn't do that. It’s a little nerve-wracking. I’ve not done shit like this before. I’m using my voice for the first time—albeit in a fucked up, manipulated kinda way. It’s way more vulnerable, but that’s the point. I'm learning so much. I'm not the same person I was a year ago”.

Leon's most recent single, 'Duofade', is out now courtesy of Studio Ooze.