LEYA
(NNA Tapes – Brooklyn USA)
eerie uneasy stringed beauty
Con grande piacere torniamo sul luogo del delitto, in quel che resta delle luci rosse della Nuova Cinematografica Gioiello, al termine della prima stagione di sperimentazioni audiovisive: ci sembrava proprio il posto perfetto per ospitare per la prima volta a Genova questo eccezionale duo newyorchese, i LEYA dell’arpista Marilu Donovan e del violinista/vocalista Adam Markiewicz.
Già editi sulla label di culto NNA Tapes (Horse Lords, Julia Holter, Ben Seretan, Co La e molti altri artisti a cavallo di una musica contemporanea elettroacustica e sperimentale) e reduci dalla colonna sonora di I Love You, un film erotico diretto da Brooke Candy e prodotto da PornHub.
Nuova Cinematografica Gioiello
Vico della Cittadella 666
Genova
https://gioielloplayhard.com/
Ingresso con tessera
LEYA
(NNA Tapes – Brooklyn USA)
eerie uneasy stringed beauty
info: L’arpista Marilu Donovan e il violinista/vocalista Adam Markiewicz sono il duo LEYA di New York. Il gruppo lavora con e contro la tradizione, estraendo intensità attraverso accordature alternative, strane armonie e voci oniriche di tipo operistico. La bellezza è alla base del loro suono, ma si mescola a un senso di disagio. LEYA ha pubblicato con regolarità diversi lavori in questi anni. I loro due album su NNA Tapes, The Fool (2018) e il suo seguito Flood Dream (2020), acclamato dalla critica, si affiancano a una serie di collaborazioni. Nel 2018, il gruppo ha scritto e interpretato la colonna sonora di I Love You, un film erotico diretto da Brooke Candy e prodotto da PornHub che vede anche la partecipazione del duo come attori. Nel 2019 segue Angel Lust, un EP collaborativo con Eartheater, per gentile concessione della leggendaria etichetta sperimentale PAN. Nel 2022, LEYA ha pubblicato Eyeline, un mixtape completamente collaborativo con contributi di Julie Byrne, Eartheater, Okay Kaya, Actress, claire rousay, James K, Deli Girls, Sunk Heaven e Martha Skye Murphy. Altri singoli e remix hanno visto il gruppo in coppia con Liturgy, Drew McDowall e Christina Vantzou tra gli altri.
press: “eerie, beckoning and tinged with horror (…) 8.0” Jonathan Williger – Pitchfork
“This is good, odd stuff, angelically beautiful, but with a chilling undertone. Both Donovan and Markiewicz know what they’re doing well enough to subvert their instruments, making music that is inhumanly lovely and disturbing.” Dusted Magazine
“Ms. Donovan performs with Adam Markiewicz, a violinist and vocalist, under the name LEYA. The duo brings a punk mentality to their experimental work, which has been described by Pitchfork as “eerie, beckoning and tinged with horror.” Ms. Donovan achieves this effect through unorthodox tunings and amplifications. The result creates an unearthly dissonance: the auditory equivalent of awakening in the fog of a bad dream only to discover you’re still trapped in the nightmare. LEYA collaborates with their peers in the experimental music scene, recording tracks with Eartheater, a musician in Queens, and the Brooklyn black metal band Liturgy. Mary Lattimore, another contemporary harpist, also collaborates with musicians from other genres, including prominent indie rockers like Sonic Youth’s Thurston Moore and the Violators’ Steve Gunn and Kurt Vile. “When I started playing with LEYA we were playing these little noise shows in basements,” Ms. Donovan said of the band’s early touring appearances, giving a virtual tour of her apartment over Zoom. She stopped next to two towering pedal harps — one ivory and one walnut — made by the famed Lyon and Healy music company in Chicago. A harp from the manufacturer can weigh more than 80 pounds and costs, on average, over $30,000; $50,000 if it’s gilded. It’s the older ivory harp that Ms. Donovan takes touring. “People would spill their beer on my harp,” she said. “People have fought during our shows.” This same harp also makes a surprising cameo in the 2018 PornHub film “I Love You,” directed by Brooke Candy, a stripper turned rapper who hired the band after seeing the video for their single “Sister.” Cloaked under veils of crimson tulle, Ms. Donovan and Mr. Markiewicz play haunting melodies as artfully choreographed erotic scenes unfold onscreen. LEYA used several songs from that production for their 2020 album, “Flood Dream.” “Brooke is just such a positive, good energy person,” Ms. Donovan said of her experience on set. “It was so much fun.”” New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/16/style/harps.html
ig: https://www.instagram.com/crying2leya/
fb: https://www.facebook.com/officialLEYA
label: http://nnatapes.com/artists
audio: https://leya.bandcamp.com/album/eyeline
video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pL6Mqsss8uw