Lee Fletcher [halo]

Lee Fletcher has described himself as a "non-musician, passionate about making music". Despite this disclaimer he is an adept bassist, with a distinctive approach to guitar and keyboards. Increasingly however, his instrument of choice is a PC/laptop combo, which helps facilitate a feral imagination.
Foremost a producer & arranger, Lee has a canny flair for drawing out commercial hooks in otherwise 'difficult' music, whilst remaining true to the work.
Besides a deluge of musicians, he cites visual artists as a key influence: "To me, music is a highly visual medium - I see sounds as shapes, colours, textures... Arranging these elements can be akin to cutting a film".
In 2001 Lee began a fertile relationship with Anglo-German group CENTROZOON ; featuring TUNER guitarist Markus Reuter , 'Redundant Rocker' Bernhard Woestheinrich , (and periodically No-Man vocalist Tim Bowness ). This pairing has yielded many interesting tracks: some released, some unreleased, with others periodically available as web exclusives. To date Lee's input has incorporated production, arrangements, programming, and strategic support.
Markus Reuter has also collaborated with Lee on a series of recordings under the [halo] banner, featuring Lisa Fletcher on vocals. This intriguing and potentially commercial project will be released, one day...
For a partial LF disc/mixography visit: www.fletchertronics.com
About The Music:
New: The Hill Of Holes ... Check out this streaming preview of the first 'full' collaboration between [halo] and Richie Nieto .
Taken from Richie's forthcoming album, Giant Robots & Sunsets, it is presented here in an unmastered form, yet complete in every other sense.
The personnel are: Richie Nieto (chapman stick / drum programming), Lisa Fletcher (voice / words), Lee Fletcher (keys / mellotron / additional programming / treatments / arrangement / words), Markus Reuter ("fabbo" solo touch-guitar).
There are further plans to release an alternate mix as part of the [halo] catalogue, which already includes several contributions from Richie.
So High / Down Below is a coupling of two tracks co-written & arranged by Lee Fletcher, and sung by Lisa Fletcher on the new TUNER album POLE (2007 Unsung Records). This joined-up version is actually the original form, (previously titled Swansong) before it was split into two parts during the album sequencing process. It appears here with TUNER's blessing.
The personnel are: Markus Reuter (piano), Lisa Fletcher (voice), Lee Fletcher (words & vocal arrangement).
"After Markus asked us to contribute to the second TUNER album we were surprised to receive a stark piano piece with no percussion! However it turned out to be a real fun challenge, which came together surprisingly fast. The title 'Swansong' was changed after Pat suggested that I edit the piece into two parts...".
Video Killed The Radio Star ("mix-in-progress" version) is a working mix of [halo] 's only cover version to date. This distinctive re-imagining of The Buggles' kitschy classic will feature in its' final form on the forthcoming [halo] CD. The personnel are: Lisa Fletcher (voice), Markus Reuter (touch guitar, bass), Lee Fletcher (keys/mellotron, programming, guitar treatments, arrangement), Richie Nieto (additional drum programming).
"I've always liked the original, it's a great pop song - but I felt that the song lent itself to an entirely new approach that was more in keeping with what we've been working on as [halo] for some time. It's probably the most commercial thing we've done, but that's purely a by-product of the song! The released version will be a little different to this however..."
Factoid: The origins of this track date way back to the earliest [halo] sessions, although many parts were re-recorded recently to keep inline with the newer material. Lisa's original vocal however was kept, as it seemed to work just fine.
Mother's Call and Not You are from the CENTROZOON title: Never Trust The Way You Are (2004 Resonancer), and feature Tim Bowness on vocals. Both tracks were produced, mixed, and arranged by Lee Fletcher.
"These two titles form part of a curious suite of micro-songs, (four of which appear on NTTWYA), that I assembled entirely from fractions of studio improv's and outtakes, of which there were many. The resulting tracks bear little resemblance to their parent recordings". Not You is currently offline.
News (Updated: 12th October 2007)
[halo] + Richie Nieto
Visitors to this page can now hear an unmastered mix of The Hill Of Holes, a collaboration between [halo] and Richie Nieto .
Lee re-worked the former instrumental Low To Ground, notably adding a lush vocal arrangement performed by Lisa Fletcher, along with new musical parts played by both himself and guitarist Markus Reuter.
Richie Nieto (chapman stick / drum programming)
Lisa Fletcher (voice)
Lee Fletcher (keyboards / addtional programming / treatments / arrangement)
Markus Reuter (solo touch guitar)
Lyrics were co-written between Lee and Lisa...
A fully mastered version of The Hill Of Holes is included on Richie's new album Giant Robots & Sunsets , which can be purchased online via CDBaby.
At a later date, an alternate mix will also be released as part of a [halo] CD, alongside other works that incorporate musical elements from Richie.
[halo] + TUNER
Lee has co-written & arranged vocals, performed by his wife Lisa (of the [halo] project) on the second TUNER album POLE .
The song (previously reported here as Swansong) has been mixed and subsequently edited by Lee into two parts: So High, and Down Below both feature on the album which is is now available for purchase in US stores, and worldwide online...
TUNER is a collaboration between Markus Reuter and drummer Pat Mastelotto (of King Crimson , TU, KTU, etc). POLE features several guest vocalists, including Renée Stieger , and Peter Kingsbery (of Cock Robin).
Simone Bürkle Project
Lee recently spent 10 days working with German vocalist Simone Bürkle on her forthcoming debut album, which is being produced by Markus Reuter.
He was brought in to arrange / record / co-produce the vocal sessions, which were recorded at his studio in Devon, UK.
Mixing will take place in September with producer / engineer David Bottrill at the helm.
The album features great performances from a variety of guest musicians, including (amongst others) Pat Mastelotto , Luca Calabrese , Yoshi Hampl , and naturally Markus himself.
Lee will also be mixing one of the non-album tracks from the sessions.
CENTROZOON / LF Project
CENTROZOON have asked Lee to compile an album of mixes that he's produced for them over the years, for release later this year.
Whilst many of these tracks are commercially available, the compilation will include a few previously unreleased gems from the 'ZOON vault, along with alternate edits of some existing mixes.
There will also be one brand new mix of a never before heard (yet extremely cool) CENTROZOON track featuring Tim Bowness .
Contacting Lee:
To discuss potential production/remix projects and/or collaborations, please email: lee[at]fletchertronics.com, (replacing [at] with @).
Friend Requests:
A note from Lee, re: MySpace friend-requests:
"Please note that I check-out every single MySpace friend request before approving, but only accept those whose music I connect with in some way. Thank you".