TheFleok and the broken mirrored self sabotage of "don't say it"

 

"...tonight, tomorrow, I love you, don't say it, don't call me, don't think it, don't laugh it, don't live it..."


This will be the first time that I basically begin a review a share of a special piece of music with an artist's own information, the stuff of liner notes back in the halcyon days of vinyl. It is offered up by TheFleok, the artful moniker of New York based songwriter Leo Jergovic. Check it out and absorb it (as always what I don't write is bracketed):

[In the summer of 2022, living in a small apartment in the Northern Italian city of Milan, Leo purchased a guitar for 50 euros and a small notebook at the local shop. Writing songs in the impulsive weather of a European summer, he began compiling the ideas that would later become a 5-song EP called 'Wrong Page'. The collection represents his conversations with heartbreak, feelings of loss in too many large cities, and the precise moments of frustration that our words fail to express on their own.

This always was, and may always be, the essence of his music—a love letter to the place where it was captured, a confrontation with profundity, and the only way to say it all.]

And there you have it. I would say that anyone relocating to Milan from wherever, having the means to do so (or not) to work and to pivot one's worldly perspectives and re-calibrate ones emotional / artistic temperature is 1) lucky, 2) gutsy 3) fortunate 4) driven, driven to make this gift into something special. 

My introduction to Leo's music and his aesthetic was through his track "vodka on the table" and I described the track as "busker punk-esque" while  likening his angst ridden vocal countenance to an "amalgam of a young Billy Joel and a current Jeff Rosenstock" which still (to me) makes perfect sense. The interesting thing is that at first Leo's emotional voice did not appeal to me, it was like the shapes he created sonically didn't match up (at first) with the hole in my heart. Somehow his overall sound turned into a shape that fit perfectly after a while anyway. 

Now as I listen to quite a different impressionistic track "don't say it" with elements of doo wop punk, somber core and Leo as a stealthy acerbic crooner, the track slips in so easily. I feel the stares at the moon personally. I feel the puppy dog eyes, the utter devastation of first loves and how it really isn't any easier the 30th time out. I appreciate the ooohs and aaaahs, the romantic beauty, the self deprecating self sabotage (we have all done it). The romance, broken and bloodied ( or not), is fucking needed when times are the hardest, when real social anxiety looms and when political monsters are lurking around every corner. When your very existence is threatened, you need love more, you need that special one in your bed at night to hold onto for protection and to protect. 

"don't say it" is from the "Wrong Page EP", by TheFleok. Leo shares: "This is about being told not to say "I love you" to a person that you love. I wrote it on the floor of my summer apartment in Milan, alone on a quiet night."

-Robb Donker Curtius  

THE FACTS AS WE KNOW THEM 

https://open.spotify.com/artist/6Ua8ce5fNbUS8VCL2yNuX0

https://www.instagram.com/thefleok/

https://www.thefleok.com/

https://www.americanpancake.com/2023/04/thefleok-and-alt-rock-piano-bar-blur-of.html


Leo Jergovic (TheFleok) is a New York based songwriter who moved from California to create. As a pianist/vocalist that thrives on the stage, his recorded music balances the intensity of his live shows with the intimacy of his emotions.

In the summer of 2022, living in a small apartment in the Northern Italian city of Milan, Leo purchased a guitar for 50 euros and a small notebook at the local shop. Writing songs in the impulsive weather of a European summer, he began compiling the ideas that would later become a 5-song EP called Wrong Page. The collection represents his conversations with heartbreak, feelings of loss in too many large cities, and the precise moments of frustration that our words fail to express on their own.

This always was, and may always be, the essence of his music—a love letter to the place where it was captured, a confrontation with profundity, and the only way to say it all.

Wrong Page hit the public on April 14, 2023.

TheFleok, California, New York, singer-songwriter Leo Jergovic, alt rock, indie rock, post hardcore, storytelling, melancholic busker punk, "don't say it", doo wop punk,