Singer-composer Lorenzo Esposito Fornasari has made his mark as a singer and producer through a series of releases, including Obake's
Draugr,
Seven Mutations and their 2011 self-titled debut, Owls’
The Night Stays,
O.R.k.'s
Inflamed Rides,
Soul of an Octopus and
Ramagehead, Somma's 23
Wheels of Dharma and Berserk's 2013 self-titled debut. Fornasari’s vocals are astonishing powerful, morphing between an urbane Sylvian-like drawl to a cracked-gravel growl oozing with a creeping malevolence. That theatrically evokes the dystopian pronouncements interleaving Bowie’s
Outside. — Sid Smith,
PROG magazine UKOver the last decade, LEF performed in prestigious festivals and theatre stages worldwide including the
Wave-Gotik-Treffen in Leipzig with the band Owls (
Tony Wakeford,
Eraldo Bernocchi, Lef),
Asymmetry Festival in Poland with the band Obake, Teatro Vittoria in Roma with
Giovanni Lindo Ferretti, the Teatro Grande in
Brescia, the Cappella Paolina del
Quirinale, the Teatro di Correggio, the
Teatro Comunale Modena,
Piazza Santo Stefano in Bologna, the Teatro Piccolo Regio in
Turin, and the
Teatro Dal Verme di Milano with Somma, as well as venues like the
Teatro Comunale di Bologna and the
Teatro Comunale in Ferrara singing contemporary opera. In 2004 he started working with
Eraldo Bernocchi, with whom he produced the album
Unisono in collaboration with
Bill Laswell. During the same year, Fornasari gave birth to the Vaga L’Am project with
Quintorigo,
Giovanni Lindo Ferretti, Enrico Gabrielli and Transgender. In 2007 he took part in the Somma In 2009 he wrote soundtracks for "La torre riflette", a video installation on the Due Torri in Bologna. In the same year he produced
Costituto, a 700th year celebration album for the Costituto of Siena, with Bernocchi, Markus Stockhausen and Giovanni Lindo Ferretti. In 2010 he disclosed an approach to the
bel canto as he made his debut in
Nino Rota's
Il Principe Porcaro opera at the Teatro Comunale in Ferrara. Finally and more recently, Fornasari is a member of the trio Owls, the
Genova Film Festival music award for his
Cose Naturali soundtracks. Fornasari is also a member of Obake with Bernocchi,
Massimo Pupillo and
Balázs Pándi. In 2012
Trevor Dunn was on tour with the band, subbing for Pupillo. Obake is 6th in
Rock-A-Rolla magazine's list of 2011's 50 most important releases. In 2012 Lef wrote music for
Saga, the
Giovanni Lindo Ferretti opera that featured 14 horses on stage. In 2013 he started the band Berserk! (which signed to RareNoiseRecords in April 2013) with Lorenzo Feliciati.
Pat Mastelotto,
Jamie Saft,
Gianluca Petrella,
Eivind Aarset, Cristiano Calcagnile, Fabrizio Puglisi, Sandro Satta and Simone Cavina also took part in the band's eponymous studio album. The album's music is part of the soundtrack composed by Lef for the feature film
La città senza notte by Italian director Alessandra Pescetta. In 2013 Sony Music released
Giovanni Lindo Ferretti's
Saga CD, the tracks of which were composed and produced by Lef. In 2014 he produced
MUTATIONS, Obake's 2nd album released through RareNoiseRecords. In 2015 Lef, Pat Mastelotto from King Crimson, Colin Edwin from Porcupine Tree and Carmelo Pipitone from Marta Sui Tubi produced the album
INFLAMED RIDES as
O.R.k. In 2016 Obake produced the album
Draugr. In 2017 Lef composed the score for
The Asteroids, a feature film directed by Germano Maccioni. In 2017 he released with the band O.R.k. the album
Soul of an Octopus (
RareNoiseRecords). In 2019 he released with the band O.R.k. the album
Ramagehead (
Kscope), featuring
Serj Tankian from
System of a Down on the track "Black Blooms". The cover was designed by
Adam Jones from
Tool. In 2021 he scored the
Italia. Il fuoco, la cenere film by Céline Gailleurd and Olivier Bohler featuring
Isabella Rossellini. In 2002 he scored
Amazonia, an
Amazon Prime original documentary the last season of which feature
Ben Harper. In 2023 he released with the band O.R.k. the album
Screamnasium (
Kscope) featuring Italian pop star
Elisa Toffoli. The cover was again designed by
Adam Jones from
Tool. == Discography ==