9. Simon BookishEverything/Everything

Leo was someone I met in the electroclash years, along with Bishi. They weren’t just doing music for attention. They were genuine, down-to-the-core artists. Seeing him live as Simon Bookish, he’d wear these amazing outfits – me and Leo love a rubber boot – it was a bit out there even for electroclash clubs. I remember buying this album, and my jaw just kept dropping. Here’s this person who’d made his name in electroclash and done this about-turn, but it’s completely identifiable as him. It’s so ambitious! It is not retiring. It grabs you and weaves a narrative. I think it’s about the end of the oil era, with that map on the cover, but then it ends so optimistically. He’s been someone who’s always been unapologetically gay, queer, and really seeing him own that and develop his craft, moving onto beautiful orchestral pieces, and now on the new Pulp album – it’s really inspirational to me.