If Yehan Jehan didn’t exist, someone would have to invent him. In the tradition of Prince and Todd Rundgren, Yehan Jehan is a cartoon maelstrom of creativity – the fact he writes, produces and plays all his elegant, gliding music seems almost normal when you consider that this Paris, Los Angeles based Londoner also oversees his own visual world shot through a lens which inspirations include the primitive graphics of ‘70s video games, Japan and David Bowie’s iconoclasm.

It'd normally take a battalion of songwriters and musicians to conjure up Yehan’s luxurious music. The most superficially obvious move would be to call it yacht rock. There’s a signature polish to the songs comprising his releases which trace a lineage back to the likes of Peter Gabriel and imbues the spirit of Quincy Jones in widescreen, as well as easing right next to contemporaries Kindness and Tame Impala. But that’s to ignore the slick funk influences and the magisterial Tears For Fears-flavoured psychedelia, his ability to harness a groove like Giorgio Moroder underpinning in his tracks. Influences everywhere, from British synth pop to the great American songbook.

As you’d expect from his impassioned songs, Yehan is a restless conversationalist. He has turned heads with his production nous, making a plethora of bands sound more expansive and technicolor, though he’s more than just a slick producer. It’s the marriage between melody and production is felicitous, where breakbeats, sub-bass and sequencers form a nexus with catchy melodies, while the glam stomp way to some funky soul sass in the verses, followed by more anthemic choruses.

Having written 40 songs before he was 16, one aspect that’s stayed constant in Yehan Jehan’s music is his strive to outdo himself. “While you can’t change the grand scheme of things, you can change your vicinity and that will influence people around you. Those little steps work out into a greater change. Being creative helps me be more positive generally, channelling my energy through music, art, making videos... You can transform emotions through that. A cool statement that resonated with me is ‘You can’t change the world, but you can change your world.’” 

Yehan’s music is offering a roadmap out of our current collective malaise by imploring us to dream big and open up our imaginations.

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