San Diego-based Lenny Zen is a one-stop shop for genre-averse, indie-pop bliss. Focalizing sultry guitar riffs, hip-swaying rhythms, and expressive vocals that beg the listener to bob and hum along, the charismatic multi-instrumentalist inspires promise despite only a handful of releases to his name. Zen’s debut single, “Runaway Girl,” is a polished introduction to a sundrenched, groovy sonic world with a charismatic, lovestruck protagonist.  Lenny Zen’s new EP, Artifact of Attraction, sees Lenny Zen make an exciting progression. Binding his infectious sound with a cohesive emotional narrative about a relationship, he displays attention to detail in the seven track’s seamless transitions and standout production.

Growing up in the North Chicago neighborhood of Edgewater, Lenny Zen’s introduction to music was the drumset, which he’s been playing “as long as I can remember.” He explains, “My dad was in bands when I was growing up, and pretty much, as soon as I was physically able to play the drums, he got me a drum set so he had a band practice partner in the crib at all times.”

Going on to take piano lessons, pick up the guitar and bass around middle school, and make beats in high school, Zen says he was always more drawn to the creativity of songwriting over technical mastery: “It all culminated in writing and producing my own music. Playing everything and being like a one-man band.” Asked how he would describe his hard-to-label sound, Zen says, “I think it’s genreless indie-pop because I have straight-up hip-hop songs…and then other songs are full-blown psych indie, so it’s hard to categorize beyond saying I try to take something and bend it a little bit.”

On his new EP, Artifact of Attraction, Zen challenged himself as a songwriter to make the project feel like a connected project, not a collection of similar songs: “I wanted it to be a full, cohesive project. I wanted to use the same drums and the same sounds throughout. I want to tie it all together in terms of the story arc and my writing. It was an experiment of making a conscious effort not to just write a song, go on to the next, and put them together. I was very mindful about telling a story from start to finish.”

Discussing the inspiration Artifact of Attraction, Zen says, “It’s a full relationship timeline. I’d written three or four demo songs about the same relationship, but they were disconnected. But, as time passed and I wrote more, and experienced more, it was like, ‘Okay, I’m starting to piece together my favorite artifacts of this puzzle.” Zen explains how the project’s title serendipitously appeared while on a trip with friends in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park: “We took a photo out the window, this film photo, and in the background was this little park of rust sculptures, and right behind me was the entry gate, and it said ‘Artifact of Attraction.’”

Inspired by recently performing for crowds of 500+ for the first time, Lenny Zen is currently back at work in the bedroom studio and “onto the next sound.”

Catch some Zen at the Hotel Cafe in Los Angeles on August 10, at San Diego’s Soda Bar on August 26, The Faight in San Francisco on September 7, and Chicago’s Sleeping Village on September 26.

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