Creative enigma, Billy Lemos is, as many artists who call home to the largely indefinable modern scene, difficult to pinpoint. But, if there exists something recognizable that breaths a natural sense of approachability into his music, it's the clear duality of influence that oversees the broad range of his personal style built of elements low-key hip-hop and alternative indie rock.  Duality in fact, seems to be the name of the game with his approach, being a full-time proponent of the single composition made of two distinct movements. 

 

Historically at odds yet entirely dependent on one another, the two mega-genres from which his sound is predominantly derived have, until recent years and the popularization of more mellow pop, low-fidelity production and subsequently a common middle ground, been a seemingly impossible collaboration to marry. 

 

But if there's any artist that most distinctly proves the gap can be successfully bridged, our vote falls to Lemos, who, with the release of new single, Burb, for which he has recruited collaborative artist, VICTOR, boldly and eloquently exhibits the virtues of both individual subsets and more importantly, how to get them to play nice in the shared space of bedroom pop production. 

 

Burb is a clinic on the impossible and a testament to Lemos' musical prowess, kicking off with a verse and productive style reflective of a current wave of undertone, heavily produced, emotionally informed hip-hop and R&B sub-stylings, and closing with a shift in direction that leaves the song reminiscent of now-vintage indie records of the mid-2000's. 

 

Despite the grandiose shift in mood mid-track, something about it which undoubtedly owes its thanks to Lemos' talent as producer, feels self-certain and cohesive. Burb and at a grander scale, Lemos, are further proof that genre is no longer an accurate way to define artists, and that nothing in the realm of modern songwriting, with universal access to self-guided professional production, is impossible.