Leyya are back.
A striking sentence, blinking into its own movement. With their third Studio-Album Half Asleep the internationally celebrated duo, consisting of Sophie Lindinger and Marco Kleebauer, shares how healing it can be to re-arrive at oneself.
When Leyya started writing and producing their debut album Spanish Disco in 2014, nothing besides the craft, the art itself mattered. Lots has happened in the meantime and it’s safe to say: Leyya made it, international success: check. The duo tours intensively around the world, plays tiny to enourmous festivals, is getting praised by critics, their songs – especially Superego – became favourites for film and advertising and make it into Netflix- and HBO-Shows; this was followed by further successful band and solo projects by the two members (My Ugly Clementine, Sharktank) as well as work with other artists as producers. Now, after 10 years, Leyya have returned to their early approach to making music with the work on their new album.
Leyya give us a first glance with their first single of the same name: the experimental indie track Half Asleep is a small homage to the history of Drum N Bass – Leyya lovingly recorded and accelerated the drum loop themselves, rather than simply using a programmed beat sample from an online library. The song is as soft as it is hard, combining a warm, analog indie aesthetic with experimental and digital electronic sounds.
With Sophie’s characteristic, intimate vocals, and honest lyrics, we can listen to the story of a „half-asleep“ life, in which the days are spent waiting for happiness; hustling through the weeks without feeling present is current discourse – or at least it should be. Half Asleep is a brake, pause and reflection, a reflection on the present. The song that gives the album its title speaks in movements: Sophie’s analytical gaze is directed towards the past and the future, searching for a location. This self-reflection as a consequence of inner restlessness characterizes the album Half Asleep; the process of realization and becoming aware of one’s own position inside and outside runs like a red thread through the longplayer. Half Asleep asks about states and specifically: „Do I actually want this?“
In 2021, Leyya released their EP Longest Day of my Life and addressed depression, melancholy and mental overload, including the announcement that the band would not be playing any more concerts for the time being. What might at first seem to suggest a negative tone is, on closer inspection, the exact opposite: „We’ve finally come back to ourselves and it feels right”, says the duo, and produces almost an entire album within a week. Leyya are back.
So the move backwards is by no means a step backwards, but rather a step sideways. After the pressure of playing live, the expectation of producing songs specifically for the stage and the feeling of having to live up to externally defined standards, the band is now finding its way back home musically: into the melancholic, mysterious, intimate. Leyya situate themselves in self-determination and consciously choose the right setting for themselves and their artistic work. Under this premise and quite simply with joy in the matter, Leyya are announcing the release of their third album Half Asleep as well as an accompanying tour:
Leyya live: Half Asleep Tour – Termine:
19.09.24 » Hole44 » Berlin (DE)
21.09.24 » WUK » Wien (AT)
25.09.24 » Posthof » Linz (AT)
26.09.24 » ppc » Graz (AT)
27.09.24 » Treibhaus » Innsbruck (AT)
29.09.24 » München » Ampere (DE)
