Half Asleep, Fully Innovative – Leyya’s Genre-Bending Return

New Double Single Release from Austria’s Finest

‘I Don’t Hug So Well / What Did I Do Wrong’

Out 26th July 2024 via Minor Changes / Ink Music

Private Stream of Upcoming Third Album Half Asleep HERE

STREAM SINGLE

“hard to pin down, but excels at keeping up a playful tone over pared-down songs that know exactly when to amp up the production“

TIME Magazine

“Leyya​ ​have​ ​created​ ​a​ ​sonic​ ​kaleidoscope​, like you​ ​can​ ​see​ ​certain​ ​colours.​ ​The​ ​bleeps​ ​are​ ​red;​ ​the​ ​horns​ ​are​ ​blue and​ ​green;​ ​and​ ​singer​ ​Sophie​ ​Lindinger’s​ ​vocals​ ​skim​ ​overtop,​ ​golden and​ ​fizzy.”

Noisey

Not for the first time recently, Austrian duo Leyya are treating fans to a double single release; this time dropping ‘I Don’t Hug So Well / What Did I Do Wrong’ on 26th July 2024 via Minor Changes / Ink Music, with their third album Half Asleep set for 30th August.

“Hey, what’s going on?” – a question often not easily answered opens the introspective first track ‘I Don’t Hug So Well’ of Leyya’s double-release. Singer and lyricist Sophie Lindinger laments in a hushed tone, and details the inner-dealings of interpersonal relationships, especially friendships. In a lowered voice, she asks: “Do we hug or do we shake hands? What is the framework?”, epitomising Half Asleep’s defining theme of self-reflection. ‘I Don’t Hug So Well’ is an indie-pop track at heart, with a hauntingly beautiful etherealness, shimmering synths, and acoustic melody. The following track, ‘What Did I Do Wrong’, is poised as a question to ‘I Don’t Hug So Well’, making it the perfect companion single. Lyrically, Sophie questions her actions and introspection about a relationship that has changed over time: “Say, what did I do wrong? // Tried so hard to show you I was strong // but I’m not”. The vocal effects give a distant impression to lead the listener over a bass-filled instrumental, and delicate but tight drum pattern.

Self-reflection due to inner turbulence defines Leyya’s upcoming album, Half Asleep. The process of recognising and gaining self-awareness runs through the album like a common thread, and with titles such as ‘Nobody Cares, Lovely‘, ‘Ease My Mind‘, or ‘Sometimes You’re Lonely‘, this proves self-explanatory. Despite the record’s self-effacing modesty, Half Asleep was written without preconception. It was inspired by lived experiences, favourite songs and sounds, the wheel of human emotion, and the art of music making “’cause it’s fun“. Every sound, sample or lick has been lovingly crafted and is harmoniously organic, contrary to the fast-moving circumstances and conventional production methods. Egoless but stubborn, Half Asleep shows a new kind of honesty and openness circulating between digital and analogue, as the band share their experience of how healing it can be to return to oneself.

Consisting of Sophie Lindinger and Marco Kleebauer, Leyya’s tale began in 2010 as a small pebble rolling between the soles of shoes on the asphalt of a garage in Eferding, Upper Austria. In the years that followed, a collaborative duo project emerged; with it, uncharted territory for the Austrian music scene: Electropop. Leyya brought something new, something soft and melodic, where vocals collide with hard electro beats, concept and chaos blur, and supposed opposites harmonise. Winning over international audiences with singles ‘Superego‘ (2015) and ‘Butter‘ (2016), the band released their debut album, Spanish Disco, in 2016 and quickly followed up with Sauna in 2018. Touring the world over, celebrating a UK Music Video Award (2018), and countless placements of their music in commercials, trailers and films worldwide (e.g., Netflix, HBO), Marco and Sophie dispersed to experiment in diverse musical directions. Back together, the group look to rebound the success found on their melancholic EP Longest Day of My Life with their upcoming third album.

New double single ‘I Don’t Hug So Well / What Did I Do Wrong’ is out 26th July 2024, with third album Half Asleep due for the 30th August, via Minor Changes / Ink Music.

STREAM ‘I DON’T HUG SO WELL’ / ‘WHAT DID I DO WRONG’

STREAM HALF ASLEEP

DISCOVER

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