Leon Thomas likes to make music for the road. His breakout album, MUTT, was released a month before his first headlining tour.
“A lot of these records were after I had started doing shows. I was like, ‘I need songs that make a crowd feel like this. I need more dynamic moments for the middle of my set,” Thomas told Rated R&B in a 2024 interview. “Most of the album was me just trying to find more moments from my live shows. I’m addicted to performance, so I’m really creating a safe space for me to do my thing.”
With his massive Mutts Don’t Heel World Tour set to launch Oct. 30 — covering North America, Europe and Australia through April 2026 — Thomas has unleashed his new EP, PHOLKS, via EZMNY Records/Motown Records. The seven-track set features production by his close collaborators Freaky Rob and D. Phelps, the team behind his breakout hit “Mutt,” with additional contributions by Nile Hargrove and Eugene Tsai.
PHOLKS is an eclectic mix of groove-first songs that tether Thomas’ R&B roots to flourishes of funk, psychedelic soul and rock. The energy of the instrumentation alone suggests this collection was made with the stage in mind, giving the R&B rockstar and his band room to let loose. The opening track and lead single, “Just How You Are,” makes a strong case for a stadium anthem with its driving percussion and blaring synths.
Thomas’ signature, pitched-up vocals glide across the slick backdrop as he grapples with someone who seems emotionally detached. Despite the lopsided affair, he asserts, “Ain’t nobody trippin’,” before revealing flashes of his own past (“I was f****n’ vixens way before the fame / Givin’ models X before Tesla came”). The hazy, funky track sets the scene for the rest of the project to unfold, which Thomas described as “a love letter to beautiful chaos and the need to feel.”
The ’70s-tinged “My Muse,” accented by a whirling bass, sharp horn stabs and light piano jabs, is a warm embrace of a love interest’s flaws and all. “5MoreMinutes” rides on a stank-face-inducing bassline and captures those fleeting moments where one wants to milk every second they have with someone special.
Songs like “Trapped” and “Baccarat” highlight the project’s emphasis on musicality. Though they capture the relatable ache of a relationship’s demise, Thomas’ vocals sit more within the production soundscape than above it. Intentional listeners may enjoy the experience, while some casual listeners may find it to be slightly off-putting. But Thomas has long experimented with vocal distortion, which has only helped him cut through the oversaturated market.
“My decisions as an engineer and a producer are very meticulous. I want people to understand that I’m operating from a different frequency than a lot of my other R&B counterparts,” Thomas told Rated R&B in a 2023 interview about his debut album, Electric Dusk. “I want people to feel uncomfortable at times. I want people to feel like, “Man, this is different. I’ve never heard anything like this.”
The project’s latter two tracks, “Feel Alive” and “Lone Wolf” featuring 4batz, offer a little more steadiness amid deep reflections. The former longs for an escape and renewal, while the closing number is a meditation on solitude.
With PHOLKS, Thomas continues to prove that he prioritizes experimentation over tradition. The EP isn’t just a bridge between his MUTT era and the next; it’s an expansion of his creative universe. “I look at music as an open adventure,” he told Rated R&B in a 2018 interview about his debut EP, Genesis. Seven years later, that philosophy remains at the heart of musical exploration.
PHOLKSfollows Thomas’MUTT Deluxe: HEEL, released in May, which featured collaborations with Chris Brown, Big Sean, Kehlani, and Halle.
Stream Leon Thomas’ new EPPHOLKSbelow.