FINDING THE REMAINS OF A BADGER SPARKS A SONG ABOUT LOSS AND GRIEF FOR LEO BRAZIL
On 30/1/26 singer/songwriter Leo Brazil releases “A While In The Woods" from his upcoming album "Alone".
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"Alone" takes its title to a literal conclusion: entirely written, performed, mixed and documented on video by Leo alone. Leo set out to create something authentic and personal as an act of catharsis and rebirth during the end of a marriage and long running musical project. To give the album a raw live feeling, each song recorded vocals and guitar together with minimal overdubs.
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The artwork was created by Leo Brazil and features the badger skull which originally inspired the song.​​
During a camping trip near York Leo saw the remains of a badger who had been hit by a car at the side of the road. Badgers are often sadly the victims of being hit by cars and it has been estimated that as many as 50,000 badgers a year are killed by motorists.
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Leo tells us about finding the badger - "animals have well documented family bonds and badgers are no different, they live in clans and sometimes will stay within the family and their sett throughout their lives. The image of the badger's skull was burned into my brain after I saw this gruesome sight. The poor unfortunate badger had obviously been there for some time, some fur and flesh remained but the skull and other bones were visible. I saw the badger during the day but as I walked back to the tent in the moonlight I could see the bright white skull still."
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There is a school of thought that humans should not anthropomorphise animals but Leo views this as a way of disconnecting ourselves from empathy. Imagining the bonds that exist between families of animals is important. "It strikes me as very arrogant to consider grief and other complex emotions to be the sole preserve of mankind. Animals are capable of more than we often give them credit for."
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The lyrics paint a somewhat impressionistic image of a life in the woods and the bonds between the families and their homes with imagery of pastoral life, night time and families that rely on each other. It isn't until the second verse where the macabre inspiration becomes clear
bleached bone, broken home
ripped right open in the road
doomed to die I will try not to cry
though you're never coming home
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The instrumentation, in keeping with the ethos of the album, is organic and stripped back. Leo recorded the 12 string guitar and vocals together and then overdubbed Mellotron, electric guitar, bass and backing vocals. There is a lo-fi aesthetic and woozy psychedelia that gives the song a dream-like modernity whilst harking back to classic songwriters like Neil Young, Hank Williams and Bob Dylan.
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The release date is 11/7/25 with a pre-save on all major streaming platforms.
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Download images - landscape and portrait, web and print
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Biography in medium, short and ultra short versions
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Press/quotes from Leo Brazil's previous projects:
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"...emotionally raw and beautifully crafted. 'Alone' stands out for its sincerity and the way it captures a complex range of emotions within a concise, impactful song." - Click Roll Boom
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"...a wall of gorgeous sound that will leave you breathless. This thing is a bloody joy." - Local Sound Focus
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"...colourful and joyous...groove filled, thumping and purposeful." - Folk Phenomena
"...like a Wes Anderson animation in sonic form…" - Kitchen Disco Records
"...fascinating music...a cornucopia of genres..." - Nick Hall (Plumhall)