LRDEE Flicker and Flame Her Version

The Foundation: LRDEE

Before the Fireverse, there was LRDEE.

This duo was the creative forge where Leo Roland honed his craft alongside Matt Esterhuizen—a multi-instrumentalist, producer, and sound guru. Matt was more than a collaborator; he was a mentor who taught Leo everything he knows about the post-production scene, passing down the technical skills that would eventually shape the Fireverse sound.

Their debut, "Better Together," established the groundwork, with Leo driving the songwriting and acoustic guitar while Matt sculpted the mix. This era produced tracks like the co-written album "Life's Journey," blending technical precision with raw acoustic emotion.

Duty. Distance. Disappearance.

Flicker and Flame: The War Story

"Flicker and Flame" is a narrative acoustic-metal masterpiece set against the backdrop of the South African Border Wars.

Written and sung by Leo, with Matt providing the complementing vocals and backing harmonies, this is a fictional war story grounded in a very real history. It follows a young South African man who has it all—love, a new marriage, a child—only to be pulled away by duty, not desire.

With driving acoustic energy and huge drums, the album traces the arc of separation: the letters that stop coming, the silence that grows too loud, and the painful aftermath of coming home to a life that no longer has room for you.

It is a story of devotion and disappearance—where the flame survives, even when the future doesn’t.

Flicker and Flame: Her Version

Every story has two sides, and "Her Version" tells the one that was left in the dark.

While the soldier fought on the border, his wife fought a different war—one of silence and uncertainty. Believing her husband had perished (a tragedy captured in the track "Ashes In the Valley"), she had to become everything he couldn't be: the mother, the fire, the name, and the heart of the home.

In her grief, she found solace in an older postman—a man who brought news, but eventually brought comfort, stepping into the fatherly role that the war had stolen.

But the story doesn't end with a happy reunion. When the soldier finally returns (depicted in "Welcome Stranger"), he is consumed not by relief, but by rage. Seeing the life she built without him, he chooses bitterness over family—divorcing her, rejecting his own daughter, and retreating into a sad, lonely existence.

Collaborating with Fireverse members Kitty and Jason, Leo brings this tragic counter-narrative to life. This is the story from the other side: a defense of the woman who had to keep living when the world told her everything was dead.

Listen to LRDEE on Apple Music Listen to LRDEE on Spotify