Kat Leon

Crafting cinematically dark music with a sense of urgency and power, frontwoman Kat Leon (Holy Wars) was reborn into music after the tragic loss of her parents a few years ago. The gaping void shattered Kat’s world and altered her soul and songwriting forever. 

Enter “This is How the World Ends”—an intoxicating, dark, and contemporary style of cinematic music that is released under her newer Kat Leon moniker. Wide-canvasing soundscapes, hard-hitting percussion, and long synth chords set a sultry bed for Leon’s uber-confident, grim yet powerful, and uniquely hopeful vocals to take center stage. It’s fearless music from someone who has suffered the worst pains yet continues to persevere and attempt to make sense of it all. Through this release, Leon poetically overcomes her personal vulnerabilities and existential demons with her jaw-dropping range, pitch control, and heart-wrenching emotional delivery. 

A quick look at the tracklist for Leon’s debut EP “This is how the world ends” and you’ll notice a theme of desperation, urgencency, and resiliency. Standout tracks like “Survive”, “Fearless” and “This Is How The World Ends” make for distinct dystopian imagery yet Leon sprinkles in timely moments of hope and empowerment throughout. This allows the listener to keep their proverbial “chin-up” and power through the obstacles in their way as opposed to wallowing in despair. With fantastical and warrior-like themes, this is music that’s somehow simultaneously melancholic and inspiring.

“My whole life I was attracted to witchcraft,” Leon says. “It always fascinated me and with This is how the world ends, I created the soundtrack for that magical life. The music in this album is to give the listener a sense of empowerment. A badass ready to overcome anything.” 

Produced by Nicolas Perez (Holy Wars, The Beta Machine, Sad Robot), the EP successfully paints a surreal and imaginative world through riveting melodies, crescendos, and clever lyricism. In full, it serves as a healthy reminder that even when we experience severe loss and stress, we can use music and our limitless imaginations to momentarially escape from the depressing obstacles that we all have to face throughout our lives. 

As a lifetime musician, Leon’s music has been featured on FOX, FOX Sports, ESPN, Amazon Prime, TLC and more. The LA-based songstress has also been written up in Billboard, Revolver, LA Times, LadyGunn, VoyageLA, The Huffington Post, Rock Cellar Magazine, and more. 

Like a long fantasy novel, This Is How The World Ends, serves as a potent first saga for an epic musical journey that we all can’t wait to have unfold. 

All photography provided by Heather Koepp