{"title":"LEYA","description":"","products":[{"product_id":"leya-the-fool","title":"LEYA - The Fool","description":"\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 42px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=620090240\/size=small\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/leya.bandcamp.com\/album\/the-fool\"\u003eThe Fool by LEYA\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003cp\u003eNNA is honored to present ‘\u003cstrong\u003eThe Fool\u003c\/strong\u003e,’ the debut album from NYC-based duo \u003cstrong\u003eLEYA\u003c\/strong\u003e. Violinist \u003cstrong\u003eAdam Markiewicz\u003c\/strong\u003e (The Dreebs) and harpist \u003cstrong\u003eMarilu Donovan\u003c\/strong\u003e have succeeded in creating an incredibly original sound for their project. They combine modernity and antiquity with their chosen instruments by taking ideas from contemporary pop and experimental music, and seamlessly integrating them into classical instrumentation and moods. Utilizing a combination of normal and detuned intervals together with ethereal layered vocals, the resulting sound of LEYA is unmistakable and haunting. It is both ancient and singular in tone, but remains open to the influences and ideas of the modern day underground in it’s structural simplicity.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLEYA aims to deconstruct the traditional connotations of the harp and violin by luxuriating in the deviant juxtaposition of ugliness vs. beauty. These two stringed instruments are most commonly associated with classical beauty, but by altering their sound through unorthodox tunings, extended techniques, amplification, and effects, Donovan and Markiewicz are able to mine the depths of their darker, more unsettling capacities. The tuning system created for Donovan’s harp is specific to the project, and was discovered by chance. Rather than being driven by scientific or conceptual intentions, this tuning is chosen based on it’s sound alone, giving LEYA a defined identity that embraces human instinct and imperfection.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe duo achieves a deeper contrast by seeking to write pop songs with simple, transparent forms. The song structures are left open and sparse in the spirit of creating clear and simple sonic terrain that is meant to grab the listener emotionally, rather than forcing them to analyze the material. The staccato harp pluckings are complemented by long, sustained notes and chords from the violin, creating a dynamic foundation of strings for the vocals to fill in the cracks and crevices. In this sense, the dual vocals are used almost as a textural element or third instrument, where the way the words actually sound takes precedence over the lyrical content. The slow, drawn-out compositional pace of these songs brings them closer to “ambient” territory, enhancing the evocative qualities of the instruments while floating carefully between eerie dissonance and the angelic higher stratospheres of transcendent beauty.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe latter half of ‘The Fool’ brings in a series of guest collaborators from the modern American experimental underground, showing the range of experience and influence that informs LEYA’s sound. Eartheater, PC Worship, and Sunk Heaven each contribute their own signature style to the tracks, but also adapt remarkably well to LEYA’s sound world, due to the open, yet firmly distinct, sonic identity established by Markiewicz and Donovan. In this sense, the power of ‘The Fool’ lies not only in it’s elegant simplicity, but in it’s ability to employ classically expressive atmosphere to suspend the listener in a blissful state of confusion, where the feeling of sound itself is more important than where it comes from.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eMastered by James Plotkin.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eIllustration by Jennifer May Reiland.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eCassette comes packaged with digital download coupon.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"NNA Tapes","offers":[{"title":"Cassette (With Digital Download)","offer_id":45567667273951,"sku":"CS-NNA-113","price":8.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"Digital Download (WAV)","offer_id":46452044103903,"sku":null,"price":8.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"Digital Download (320 MP3)","offer_id":46452044136671,"sku":null,"price":8.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/NNA113-digital-border-e1648054427926.png?v=1714759909"},{"product_id":"leya","title":"LEYA - Flood Dream","description":"\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 42px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=1936523724\/size=small\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/leya.bandcamp.com\/album\/flood-dream\"\u003eFlood Dream by LEYA\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003cp\u003eFramed within a network of outlying artists whose experiments sketch out far-flung deviations from aboveground movements, the work of New York-based duo \u003cspan class=\"il\"\u003eLEYA\u003c\/span\u003e stands out as an anomaly that exemplifies the idiosyncratic impulses of the avant fringe. Harpist\/vocalist Marilu Donovan and violinist\/vocalist Adam Markiewicz seem from a sidelong perspective to approximate the languages of neo-classical performance and post-minimalist exploration in their austere, meticulously rendered compositions. In truth, the duo’s own self-perception casts their project closer to the axis of noise and punk than conventional refinement.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAs formally educated composers acutely aware of the traditions and conventions into which their instruments fit, Donovan and Markiewicz exploit preconceptions and confound expectations by pursuing the most transportive and emotional means of communication with their audience. Just as their peers warp systems of electronics or tropes from the pop and rock traditions, \u003cspan class=\"il\"\u003eLEYA\u003c\/span\u003e channel the surface signifiers of orchestral music and 20th century classical composition into deeply personal works that encompass bursts of raw dissonance alongside moments of spectral beauty. The duo’s performances shift the spotlight from the authority figure looming over an ensemble of players to those planted in the corner of a dimly lit basement populated with freaks who can’t help but fall into silence when confronted with the duo’s bewildering stimuli.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan class=\"il\"\u003eLEYA\u003c\/span\u003e’s album \u003cem\u003eFlood Dream\u003c\/em\u003e follows the acclaimed \u003cem\u003eThe Fool\u003c\/em\u003e (NNA, 2018) and their soundtrack to PornHub-exclusive short film \u003cem\u003eI Love You\u003c\/em\u003e directed by Brooke Candy. \u003cem\u003eThe Fool\u003c\/em\u003e presented the project both in densely plotted duo pieces and joint efforts with New York luminaries like Eartheater, PC Worship, and Sunk Heaven. Though guests from \u003cspan class=\"il\"\u003eLEYA\u003c\/span\u003e’s wide social environment appear on \u003cem\u003eFlood Dream\u003c\/em\u003e, including vocalist\/producer GABI, flautist\/synthesist John Also Bennett of Forma, and bassist Tristan Kasten-Krause, the album pares back the presence of external artists as full co-writing collaborators to highlight the raw core of the duo’s practice. \u003cem\u003eFlood Dream\u003c\/em\u003e plays out as a decadent feast of the senses struck through with the disturbed influence of intrusive thoughts.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe album’s pieces each follow their own sinuous narrative arc, building from empty expanses of detuned harp arpeggios and languid smears of violin into climaxes draped in Markiewicz's impassioned vocal lines. \u003cspan class=\"il\"\u003eLEYA\u003c\/span\u003e generate tension with their darkly operatic sense of drama, conveyed in weeping melodies and the desolation of solitary notes against blank backdrops, as they dole out fragments of resolution or momentary triumph before sinking back into uncertainty. Their arrangements bridge instances of baroque ornamentation and blocks of harmonic density with stretches of fugue state-inducing confusion built over dreary standing tones and repeated dissonant intervals.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn an industry obsessed with precise classification, how do we make sense of the ambiguous shadow \u003cspan class=\"il\"\u003eLEYA\u003c\/span\u003e casts over the landscape? The duo reject the tenets of the new music establishment and thrive within a scene of noise transgressors and electronic auteurs. In all of its indulgence and emotional upheaval, their music adapts as easily to the context of arthouse pornography as to a late-night bill populated with no wave acts and performance artists, without ever coming off as a harsh juxtaposition. \u003cspan class=\"il\"\u003eLEYA\u003c\/span\u003e’s music reveals that the boundaries between these disciplines aren’t boundaries at all — that everything pours from the same well into different vessels that might be carried off in opposite directions, but always return to a shared source.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"s1\"\u003eAll songs written and performed by LEYA\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"s1\"\u003eRecorded and mixed by Alexis Berthelot at Outlier Inn and Studio G\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"s1\"\u003eGABI’s vocals recorded by Eric Littmann\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"s1\"\u003eMastered by Chris Weiss\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"s1\"\u003eGabrielle Herbst (GABI) sings on Weight\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"s1\"\u003eJohn Also Bennett plays flutes on Mariah and synthesizers on Flow\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"s1\"\u003eTristan Kasten-Krause plays bass on Mariah and First Way\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"s1\"\u003ePhotography by Serge Serum\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"s1\"\u003eCalligraphy by Leo Gutman\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"s1\"\u003eLayout by Matt Mayer\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"s1\"\u003eLEYA is Marilu Donovan and Adam Markiewicz\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003e\n\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"NNA Tapes","offers":[{"title":"12\" LP (With Digital Download)","offer_id":45567670452447,"sku":"LP-NNA-122","price":18.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"CD (With Digital Download)","offer_id":45567670485215,"sku":"CD-NNA-122","price":12.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"Digital Download (WAV)","offer_id":45567670517983,"sku":null,"price":9.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Digital Download (320 MP3)","offer_id":45567670550751,"sku":null,"price":9.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/LEYA_Flood_Dream.jpg?v=1720877592"},{"product_id":"eyeline","title":"LEYA - Eyeline","description":"\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 42px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=2172055542\/size=small\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/artwork=none\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/leya.bandcamp.com\/album\/eyeline\"\u003eEyeline by LEYA\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eEyeline\u003c\/em\u003e, the new mixtape from LEYA — violinist and vocalist Adam Markiewicz and harpist Marilu Donovan — began to take shape last November while the duo was on tour. It was recorded mostly at home with friends, including Actress, Julie Byrne, Deli Girls, Okay Kaya, claire rousay, Sunk Heaven, and Martha Skye Murphy. LEYA describe the mixtape as the origin of sight, “like seeing the one who is watching.” Eyeline is an imperfect parade for charmed constellations — an ethereal blend of neofolk and neoclassical darkwave.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLEYA works with and against the grain of tradition, mining intensity though alternate tunings, strange harmonies, and dreamstate operatic vocals. The resulting experience is one of beauty but spans many imperfect worlds.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLEYA has released a steady volume of work in several years. Their two albums via NNA Tapes, \u003cem\u003eThe Fool\u003c\/em\u003e (2018) and its critically acclaimed follow-up \u003cem\u003eFlood Dream\u003c\/em\u003e (2020), exist alongside a wide range of collaborations. In 2018, the group wrote and performed a full-length soundtrack to I Love You, an erotic film directed by Brooke Candy and produced by PornHub that also features the duo as actors. 2019’s Angel Lust, a collaborative EP with Eartheater, followed courtesy of experimental label PAN. In 2020, they dropped a number of shorter releases including “Antigone,” a collaborative single with American black metal band Liturgy, a remix of their \u003cem\u003eFlood Dream\u003c\/em\u003e track “Wave” by British electronic musician Actress, another remix of the album’s penultimate track “First Way” by the venerable Drew McDowall (Coil, Psychic TV), and a collaboration with Deli Girls for their new album BOSS called “barrier to love.” Composer\/Filmmaker Christina Vantzou delivered a final mashup remix of \u003cem\u003eFlood Dream\u003c\/em\u003e’s “Mary” and “ABBA” in May 2021. The duo provided live scoring for a Hood by Air fashion show curated by Surf Gang member Babyxsosa in June 2021. From their releases LEYA have earned acclaim from Bandcamp Daily, Brooklyn Vegan, Consequence, Document Journal, Esquire, FACT, The FADER, i-D, PAPER, Noisey, Pitchfork, Spin, and The New York Times, among many other media outlets.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"NNA Tapes","offers":[{"title":"Cassette (With Digital Download)","offer_id":45567678349535,"sku":"CS-NNA-145","price":11.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"Digital Download (WAV)","offer_id":45567678283999,"sku":"","price":8.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Digital Download (320 MP3)","offer_id":45567678316767,"sku":"","price":8.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/LEYA_Eyeline.jpg?v=1720877117"},{"product_id":"leya-i-forget-everything","title":"LEYA - I Forget Everything","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eReleases November 22, 2024\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAmidst relief, memory is a window to something greater. We are at a loss in remembering; we slowly or quickly forget. In moving around, there is a loosening of the gaze and touch that tethers us to ourselves. In trying to get better, we may cease to remember some things.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eI Forget Everything marks LEYA’s first return to the studio since 2022’s collaborative mixtape Eyeline, and their first release sans collaborators since 2020’s breakout classical-meets-everything tome Flood Dream. It comes on the heels of a relentless multi-year touring schedule, sandwiched amidst new collaborations with fashion houses, filmmakers, choreographers, and more, a blooming of their beguiling, potentially existent-in-any-context din into newer identities and spaces.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eSince that period, LEYA (harpist Marilu Donovan and vocalist\/violinist Adam Markiewicz) have sought to return to their basics - detuned harp, hazy strings, and wide-ranging, operatic vocals, all channeled through an unmistakably raw lens - and now begin to reimagine their language, harnessing production experiments that have been percolating in their tangential work in recent years.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eI Forget Everything is LEYA’s first solo work\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"bcTruncateMore\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003ewith elements of electronic production, albeit nascent, ranging in sheen from home-recorded to high-fidelity, all generated solely from harp, strings, and voice. From the opener, “Eden of Haze,” there is a billowing (literal) hiss of energy that creeps in and remains present. Climbing, almost exaltant-sounding strings are resampled, overlapped and crushed back together, segueing into a troubled-feeling pagan folk song, then falling back into a dissonant, climbing wall of violins, beneath which more resonant chords slowly emerge as the first resampled strings play again until the track abruptly ends. “Corners,” which follows, finds LEYA inhabiting a larger, more luxurious sound, suggestive of something more cinematic, but still characteristically raw. A gothic, Glass-ian pop song, it feels like one they might have written for someone else to sing in the past, but now Markiewicz inhabits the central role. Throughout the release, his words are more audible than in previous records, inching closer to context, but still feel within the elusive slipstream that begets the everythingness of LEYA’s work.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Baited,” the fourth song, marks the newest approach on the record. Missing is any live harp, but rather just a short looping sample of the decaying harp chord from the previous song, “Weaving.” This suggestion of Twin-Peaks-meets-Basinski feeling minimalism sounds like a wash between two close chords, panning with a restricted-feeling elasticity, along with periodic but not-quite-metric clicks and hisses. Markiewicz sings quietly and nakedly atop the track, “Walk like heaven but walk like heat.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhile some songs hark back to LEYA’s central, historical sound, they also see new deviations. “Weaving” harnesses the merged violin\/vocal homophony that is characteristic of much of their work, but layered voices and harmonies scale to something wider-feeling, with bubbling strings emerging at the end to form an orchestral wash as a subdued chorus sings beneath. “Fake” is underscored by feathered, pulsing, subdued-yet-chaotic synth reverberations hidden beneath the harp that seem to react to its tones. “Mia” explores an increasingly processed orchestral environment: drifting strings and voices gently warp, decay, and bubble up again.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI Forget Everything regards a haven scorned. It is a reaction to the inevitability of loss. There is a haven some of us might collectively choose to abandon, an indifference to underestimating violence. Or, conversely, it can regard the necessity of loss and even abandonment. In a small, private world, once imagined and then realized, or stumbled upon with indifference, there is the imminent ebb of movement, and the distortion of memory. It is a threshold.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"NNA Tapes","offers":[{"title":"Digital Download (WAV)","offer_id":46416811360479,"sku":"","price":8.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Digital Download (MP3)","offer_id":46416811393247,"sku":"","price":8.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/CoverImageSquare_IMG_0249.jpg?v=1730066191"},{"product_id":"leya-i-remember-nothing","title":"LEYA - I Remember Nothing","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003ereleased December 5, 2025\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"NNA Tapes","offers":[{"title":"Digital Download (WAV)","offer_id":50764298780895,"sku":null,"price":6.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Digital Download (MP3)","offer_id":50764298813663,"sku":null,"price":6.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/files\/leya.avif?v=1785782401"}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0677\/9256\/8543\/collections\/LEYA-_-Jessica-Hallock-_-2022-01-04-_-IMG_3331-e1645771037181.jpg?v=1720882459","url":"https:\/\/shop.northern-spy.com\/collections\/leya.oembed","provider":"Northern Spy Label Group","version":"1.0","type":"link"}