Ears Wide Open: Billy Uomo

Daiana Feuer on October 17th, 2017

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Billy Uomo is Aaron Leigh, best known as the primary songwriter for Babes, a family band he started in 2013 with his siblings Zach and Sarah Rayne, and their cousins Jeffrey Baird and Bryan Harris. By 2015, they released an EP and two albums and then … the band members became interested in other projects. Is Babes over? “Not over no,” says Leigh. “Babes is five individuals and all wanted to pursue other things but not quit Babes. I’m sure there will be more Babes releases in the future.” In the meantime, Leigh is exploring a solo project as Billy Uomo. Rather than just a band name, the persona of Billy Uomo is something that Leigh’s been holding onto for some time. Uomo comes from his Sicilian family. As for Billy, he says: “I’ve always been Billy, I was just afraid to openly be Billy for different reasons.”

Just recently, he posted an EP called “Wasted” online, the first of 10 EPs he’s already recorded and will release over the next 12 months. The title track features David Elevator on drums and Bryan Harris playing bass, and his sister sang back-up on “It’s A Really Bad World And I Want To Be With You,” but the rest is all Leigh. The EP’s sound is a modern riff on doo-wop and bedroom pop, with songs about being sad and being in love. He says, “The theme of this EP is seeing (hearing) the progression of a relationship through the eyes of someone who is sensitive, me. True story. Song one is the proclamation of my relationship with love. Two is finding someone I can share something meaningful with, then expressing that to the person. Three is dealing with it being over, and four is being ready for love again.”

||| Stream: “Wasted” EP