Though the Los Angeles-based singer has been playing music professionally for over 10 years now, he got his start with the now defunct indie band The XYZ Affair. After that band split in 2010, Feder almost gave up on his musical endeavors. But something inside him said to keep going, and the New York-based musician packed his bags and relocated to the City of Angels.

Living in a new city, the ambitious singer decided to not only transform his musical style, but to adopt a new moniker for himself as well. Under the moniker “Leonard Friend”—the musical alter ego used by his grandfather, who abandoned a promising career as a big band saxophonist to follow his family’s business footsteps as a traveling salesman—Feder recently released his second EP, LXLF (Fun fact: The album art is a photo featuring his grandfather [left hand side]).

Though this project is technically R+B, the interesting thing about Feder’s latest five-song offering is its diversity. Sure, his vocals are smooth and sexy, but the instrumentation behind them varies from thumping electronic beats to piano driven ballads, all in the course of just over 20 minutes. The record’s opener (and one of its highlights) “Gatorade and Tylenol,” begins with a romping, popcorn-esque electronic intro that would make James Murphy proud. It sounds like it should be an indie pop song until Feder’s Justin Timberlake-esque vocals set in and send the song on a completely different path as they glide effortlessly over clapping samples and tribal percussion beats. But that indie sound just won’t back down, and by the time the chorus explodes into “I’m alive, I’m alive, I’m alive / I could die, I could die, I could die,” it’s hard not to wonder if he’s been listening to fellow L.A.-based indie darlings, Local Natives.

The EP continues into its single, “Holograms.” The song, which features icy synths reminiscent of Crystal Castles, is not only a tribute to Whitney Houston but also a tongue-in-cheek track about celebrities escalating in popularity postmortem. “I wanna trend when I die, re-release my greatest hits / Make my hologram forever,” Feder croons during the chorus. However, songs like “Annie Lennox” make the listener realize that this is, in fact, an R+B record. Vocals kick in instantaneously as sparse, sensual key-based beats guide the ballad.

Even though acts like The Weeknd and Frank Ocean have revolutionized the world of urban contemporary, Feder brings something to the table that these two have not—incorporating indie pop elements. Because of this, it’s safe to say Leonard Friend is someone who should be on your radar; he’s definitely on ours.