Leeds-based producer Jonas LR faces grief head-on with his haunting, lo-fi debut “Better Than This”

In his own words “recently, things have gotten a little deeper.” Born, raised and now studying in Leeds, for Jonas LR music has always been a huge part of his life. Hosting parties, club nights, making beats, writing songs and everything in between, LR’s taken some time out to craft what you now hear. “Better Than This” is his first single in his own world and it’s just the first of many more.



“Better Than This” is an emotionally charged response to what he describes as the “existential convulsions” he faced following the unexpected deaths of two friends. Detailing his own feelings around his unpreparedness and his own mortality, LR’s muses that “words won’t mean a thing” when the time comes. His lo-fi, muted electronic sound is still inspired by The 1975 as well as the more experimental work of artists like SOPHIE and FKA twigs.

Converging pop melodies with his vast array of musical influences, he adds “I like to pull from all places, I’m known as the person with the most aggressively eclectic music taste, it can get a bit outrageous sometimes.” Self-produced and written alone “Better Than This” is a clear example of LR’s growing talent, the self-directed music video also shows that his vision extends beyond just his music.


We caught up with Jonas to talk about this first release, how he created the visual and what it’s like putting such complex emotions into this work.

BEST FIT: What's the story behind "Better Than This"?
Jonas LR: “For the last couple of years death and loss have been persistent themes in my life and those around me. And for the first time I've realised how removed any discourse around death is for us, yet death is something that happens literally all the time every single day.

It's weird. We all seem to walk into our first experiences of death utterly unprepared, and I feel like we often live as if we'll live forever. I've since wondered if we had a better relationship with the transient nature life, we wouldn't be so scared to like, be properly who we are, instead of being so afraid of the world and it's judgment.

And I guess the song tells the story of things that happened and the resulting existential convulsions which pulled me bloody mind apart and then back together again. In the end, leading me to look at life a little differently. It’s kinda sad, but also kinda hopeful I guess.”

Has music always been an outlet for your feelings?
Always. I've been writing songs about people I fancy since I was probably 9 or 10. It's only relatively recently things have gotten a little deeper. Now I honestly don't know what I'd do if I wasn't able to scream my woes down a microphone.



Is it ever difficult to translate these emotions through sound?
Sometimes when I find myself unable to articulate what I'm trying to say with words, I turn to sounds and instrumentation in the production to help refine whatever it is I am trying to communicate. Sound design can be quite an unexpectedly powerful tool for channelling emotion! So it's really useful being in charge of both the words and noises when writing music, as they can help fill in the gaps for each other.

Tell us about the video for "Better Than This"?
As a mid-quarantine video production, resources were, of course, very limited. Luckily, I have I live with six of my pals (plus an extra three isolating with us) who are all pretty creative, so was able to borrow a green screen and a steady hand. It was all filmed in my house apart from the bit in my friends car. I edited most of the video during a sweaty all-nighter.

I guess the video itself, like the song, just tells the story of the internal conversations between the many shades of me wee psyche. Despair and hope at war. Fighting for rule over the psychological kingdom. Gnarly right? Lots of symbolism, my mum sure had fun trying to pick it apart scene by scene.

What can we expect from the Jonas LR project going forward?
MUCH AND MANY SONGS. Not all of them will be quite as sad as this one I promise. I got some thicc bassy bois for DA CLUB. whenever they open again… OMG I wanna rave.