Cleo LeighCA
Photo Credit: Lauren Pecore
A rising voice in Canada’s underground, Cleo Leigh crafts immersive live performances using modular synthesis and hardware, channeling an emotive and distinctly personal narrative. Rooted in the remote yet vibrant scenes of St. John’s, Cleo Leigh first made her mark by co-founding key nightlife institutions like LAVI SEKS, STÄMPT, and the Selenium event series—laying groundwork for a thriving electronic community in Newfoundland. Her sound is informed by years of crate-digging, analog experimentation, and a love for sonic tension, where minimalism meets rave energy.
Whether behind the decks or in the studio, Cleo Leigh builds kinetic, exploratory journeys. Her productions have found homes on labels like YUNGDUMB, Heistmode, Nodding Heads, and Defragged Sessions, while her sets channel a raw, physical energy shaped by hardware improvisation and rhythmic depth. She’s brought this vision to stages across Canada and abroad, with recent highlights including FORMAT (Toronto) alongsideBlawan and SHDW & Obscure Shape, Vibrancy Fest in Halifax with Tiga and Lady Starlight, and a 2024 summer tour through Tbilisi, Istanbul, Santiago, Detroit, and Montréal. In 2021, she co-founded the vinyl-focused label SÉKS TAPES, championing forward-thinking techno from artists like Kaiser, Egotot, and Wrong Assessment—earning playtime in legendary venues such as Berghain.
Cleo Leigh — Romance by Design
Live
Cleo Leigh presents Romance by Design, a hypnotic techno live set shaped by modular synthesis and hardware. Inspired by Mario Botta’s architecture, her improvisational performance structures emotion into sound, blending minimalism and rave energy to explore intimacy, form, and tension through raw, evolving sonic matrix.
Who
Cleo Leigh is the alias of Newfoundland-born artist Shauna Gilpin, a DJ, producer, and live performer.
Labels
YUNGDUMB, Heistmode, Nodding Heads, Defragged Sessions
Latest
rustica grace. (2020)