Leí launched her new EP KEPHER at Montreal’s MEM on February 6, and the Trinidadian-Canadian rock artist isn’t interested in asking permission anymore. The five-track project, recorded with producer James Pretli, translates to “the highest level of consciousness,” but for Leí, it’s less about enlightenment and more about explosion. “KEPHER is a way of life for me,” she explains. “‘Highest level of consciousness’ sounds like a mountain peak you finally reach, but for me, KEPHER is more like the moment you realize you’ve been holding your breath your whole life and finally let it out. Screaming the truth. It’s about that raw, constant state of becoming, the scarab rolling the sun, the light finally breaking through the dark. Acknowledging the darkness. It’s less about a destination and more about the electricity in the process.”
That electricity courses through every track. Leí describes the EP as cathartic, loud, a bit angry, and real, and she held nothing back in the studio. “For a long time, I was navigating a space where I felt my voice was not enough, or worse, trying to sound like the other singers or being edited to fit someone else’s idea of who I should be,” she says. “What needed to come out was the truth about that struggle, the parts that aren’t pretty nor polite, and the parts that were intensely sexy and unapologetic. Now was the right time because I realized that real is far more vital than appropriate. KEPHER is about shedding that old skin. This anger isn’t just noise, it’s a necessary fire that burns everything clean so I can finally stand in my own truth. I held nothing back because I’m done waiting for a ‘better’ moment to be honest.”
Working with James Pretli, whom Leí calls “the magic man,” the sessions became a process of mutual challenge and trust. “James is the ‘magic man’ because he has this rare ability to hear the things I can only describe in feelings or colours. He can dissect each instrument, balance the sound and put it back together with surgical precision. His sound creation is one to be studied,” Leí explains. “In the studio, we really kept each other on our toes. He’s great at calling me out if he thinks I’m overthinking a vocal take, and I’m not afraid to tell him when a production element feels a bit too busy for the story I’m trying to tell. It was a lot of back-and-forth, and just staying in the room until the song felt like it should. It wasn’t always glamorous, but that’s why it worked.”
Indian Trail, named after the village in Trinidad where Leí grew up, stands as one of the EP’s defining tracks. The song doesn’t soften the edges or romanticize the past. “Indian Trail really isn’t about finding a middle ground. It is about telling the beautiful and the bruised that exist at the same volume. I wouldn’t balance them. If I try to balance good and bad, I’d end up with something lukewarm, and Indian Trail is anything but lukewarm,” she says. “For me, it was about layering. I wanted the warmth of nostalgia, the joys of running to the forest and picking and eating sugar cane, to sit right next to the sharp edges of the reality I grew up in. I didn’t want to romanticize the struggle, yet I also didn’t want to erase the beauty that made me who I am. You can love the village that raised you and still be loud about what it took from you. Giving myself permission to feel both at once is what made the song.”
The comparisons to Tina Turner and Joan Jett arrive frequently, and Leí doesn’t shy away from them. But she’s clear about where she stands. “It’s an honour to even have their names mentioned in the same breath as mine. Those women didn’t just play music, they broke doors down. I definitely carry that rebellious spirit, that raw, visceral energy that Tina and Joan brought to the stage. You can’t be a woman in rock and not feel their DNA in the air,” she says. “Yeah, people often reach for those names because the industry hasn’t left enough room for new black women in rock to be their own blueprints. It’s easier for people to categorize me by looking backward than it is to sit with the fact that what I’m doing is evolution. I hear the influences, but I’m not trying to be the ‘next’ anyone. I’m too busy being the first Leí. I want the next girl coming up from a place like Indian Trail to not have to look back forty years to find a reference point, she can just look at what I’m doing right now.”
Being Trinidadian-Canadian in rock spaces has shaped both her sound and her approach. “People have this very narrow, postcard-version of what Trinidad sounds like. They think it’s all steelpan and sunshine. But if you’ve ever been to our carnival, celebrated J’ouvert morning and felt the bass of a sound system passing in the street, you know that Caribbean energy is heavy, loud, and deep. That is rock and roll to me,” Leí explains. “My background gave me the rhythm and the fire I bring to the stage. I don’t see myself as an outsider in rock, I see myself as someone bringing the genre back to its roots of rebellion and raw soul.”
As for proving herself in spaces that didn’t expect her? “Every single day. I’ve walked into rooms where the assumption was that I’d be doing Soca or Reggae, and the look on people’s faces when my vocals kicks in is priceless. I used to feel like I had to work twice as hard to be allowed in rock spaces, but now? I’m not asking for permission anymore. I’m not here to prove I belong, I’m here to show that the space belongs to me, too.”
The lead single Desire set the tone for what was coming. “The response to Desire was like watching a dam break. I think people were shocked at first, then they were obsessed. It wasn’t just ‘I like this song’, it was ‘I needed to hear this,'” Leí recalls. “What that reaction told me is that people are starving for human friction. We live in such a polished, filtered digital world right now, and I think listeners are tired of music that sounds like it was made by an algorithm. They’re hungry for the grit, the sweat, and the uncomfortable parts of wanting something so bad it hurts. When I saw the people’s reactions, especially at the live shows here in Montreal, it confirmed that I didn’t need to tone it down for the rest of the EP. It gave me the green light to go even harder. Desire proved that there’s a whole community of people out there who are just as frustrated and just as passionate as I am. They don’t want pretty, they want deep.”
Live, Leí transforms the studio recordings into something rawer. “The studio version is the blueprint, but the live performance is the explosion. My band is incredible, they don’t just play the songs, they react to me. If I decide to hold a note longer because I’m feeling that Trini fire in my chest, they’re right there with me. I want people to leave the show feeling like they didn’t just hear LEÍ, they survived her.”
The MEM launch felt historic to Leí. “At the MEM was about history. It was about adding my voice to the story of Montreal. I wilt when people heard KEPHER live for the first time, they felt a sense of permission. Permission to be loud, to be angry, and to be their most authentic selves without apology. The air seemed lighter. I was overwhelmed with emotions with the amazing response. It seemed as though they had gone through that same cathartic release I felt while writing it.”
The upcoming March 14 show at Joe Pub in Longueuil shifts the energy. “That show is going to be a raw, ‘no-drill’ rock experience in its truest form. From high-concept museum spaces to the best dive bars on the South Shore. We will be doing some rock classics from Ozzy Ozbourne, Tina Turner, Joan Jett, and more, mixed in my original songs. Ultimately, I want them to walk away knowing that being real is a revolution in itself. Freedom.”
As for what comes next, Leí isn’t slowing down. “KEPHER is the rebirth, the moment the scarab finally breaks through the dirt. Yet five tracks can only tell so much of the story. I’m already deep into the next phase. Right now, the focus is the stage taking these songs like Desire and Devil’s Train and seeing how they evolve when they hit the air in cities like Montreal and Longueuil. Yes, a full length album is absolutely on the horizon. If this EP is the spark, the album will be the fire. I want to dive deeper into those Trinidadian roots and push the rock elements even further into something more cinematic and heavy. I’m not just looking to release more songs, I’m building a legacy. KEPHER is the introduction, but the best is yet to come.”
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