This is all until Marco’s guitar rips it all open with a dark, raw, muddy riff. Sofie begins yelling in tune, and her head and hand crank upward. The spotlight catches her face for a moment and so do we. It’s all very dramatic, like their music, which drifts between dream and sudden nightmare. The song is ‘I’m not there.’
There’s something ‘old soul’ about the talented young duo, Sofie and Marco, behind the two person outfit, Leyya – born in upper Austria, now Vienna-based. It’s not often you meet an electro/pop band so driven to make unique music and sound, and who also get annoyed when hearing their own trending tune too often.
Nevertheless, their debut single Superego has put them on the local musical map, and we have an inkling that they’ll be going international. Here’s the Q & A about their ‘weird’, ‘poppy’ and ‘yellow’ sound of Leyya.
Vienna Wüstelstand (VW): What’s Spanish Disco about?
Marco (M): We like irony in titles. Our music is kind of melancholic and dark, whereas the title, Spanish Disco could be connected with something naïve and optimistic. We also like to leave a lot up to interpretation, so the ideal situation is that when somebody listens to the album, they make up their own story and conclude themselves what Spanish Disco means.
Sophie (S): Same with the lyrics, I’m not really saying anything specific in them so the listener can interpret them and connect with them in their own way.
VW: Where do the lyrics come from?
S: My daily life. Everything that comes to my mind, or bothers me, or people that I meet that inspire me.
VW: What should be the first song people listen to when picking up your album for the first time?
M: I think we have to say, Superego.
S: No, I don’t want to say that as this may be the catchiest song that make people buy the album, but I think there are other songs you should start with.
M: I would simply recommend listening to the album as a whole.
S: Yeah, it’s like one whole song.
M: We have an intro, and outro, and interlude. So if you take one song out of the context of the album, you’re missing out.
VW: How would you describe your sound in 3 words?
S: Oh, I hate this question, it’s so hard.
VW: Ok, I’ll give you 5.
S: (laughs) Oh, thank you.
VW: Ok, 5 and a half.
M: It’s weird and poppy.
S: Yellow.
M: And blue. That’s 5 words – ‘and’ is a word.
VW: Where does your sound come from?
M: I like the raw sound. I feel that a lot of our music doesn’t really fit into the typical pop picture as it’s so raw, whereas many other pop bands are going into overdrive with their sound. We’re somewhere between mainstream and alternative.
S: We both come from a rock background; we had a rock band together when we were 14 so we kept some things, and other things evolved from there. For Spanish Disco, we combined it with singer/songwriter and electronic elements.
VW: What should people be doing when listening to Spanish Disco?
M: You have to listen actively so people should sit down and do nothing while they’re listening to it.
S: At least for the first time.
M: Don’t even breathe.
VW: What’s on your playlists?
S: A lot of different genres.
M: I listen to a band called ‘Unknown Mortal Orchestra,’ as they have the sound that I’ve always wanted to get out of my equipment.
S: I really like the The Internet at the moment and Queens of the Stone Age – especially their latest album.
VW: Is there anywhere in Vienna that inspires you?
S: I like going for a walk in the 18th district. I live there. I like to walk back to the big houses, it’s really calm.
M: I like sitting in front of my computer and making music. But there’s a cool café underneath my apartment, Café Benno.
S: Yeah, we’re always there.
VW: Your music is kind of melancholic and dreamy – are you melancholic and do you dream a lot?
M: The last dream I remember was like sleep paralysis – you know when you can’t move and you feel like you’re awake. I never dream normally, but when I do, I always have this dream where somebody is standing in front of me and I can’t see their face because it’s all black and the person walks towards me, but they’re more like floating than walking, and then I can’t breathe and I feel like I’m dying, and then I wake up.
S: That sounds nice. (awkward silence with smiles)
Vienna Würstelstand Word rap:
We say a word, and you respond with the first word that comes into your head.
Morning:
M: tomatoes
S: sun
Church:
M: pray
S: wood
4am:
M: drunk
S: night
Big toe:
M: ouch
S: small toe
Dream:
M: black man
S: goat
Vienna:
M: pretty
S: sun
Facebook:
M: hate
S: blue
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