This is the second time we’ve featured Brooklyn-based artist Leilani Patao’s music recently.
Their single, Cut, was reviewed here.
This time, it’s the turn of the new single BIRD WHISTLE. Both tracks are taken from the upcoming EP Daisy.
BIRD WHISTLE is a song about the bird that couldn’t trust the bird feeder, but couldn’t stop going back. It’s about just wanting to be friends, but not being able to forget how you used to feel for someone.
Written and produced in a two-hour frenzy, it was this song that made Leilani understand the direction she wanted their music to take.
This song has such an original sound. There is a mix of acoustic and electronic elements, subtle organs that add background texture, and strange breathing sounds that come and go.
Leilani’s distinctive, slightly distorted vocal has quite a high tone, but it’s powerful and cuts through perfectly. The melody is complex but catchy – I loved the repeated descending melody, and to me, there was almost a country flavour to that cadence. It all adds up to a sound that is hard to pigeonhole.
A heavy hi hat and a kick/snare combo bring a nice lo-fi groove, but there are sections where it’s hard to know what instruments we are actually hearing – a crunchy, at times gnarly sound that uses the studio in such a creative way, it feels like this could be a whole new genre.
The surprises keep coming – the middle part of the song is unlike anything else I’ve heard recently – an instrumental solo which is delivered by an amazing sound – perhaps a heavily distorted guitar mixed with a synth? Perhaps something playing backwards? It’s hard to tell exactly what it is, but it sounds great and feels really fresh.
However, it’s gone before we get a chance to really process it. We always come back to the melody and musicality of the vocal.
Packed with creative energy and bursting with ideas – the fact that this was produced in such a short time is scary, and judging by these first releases, the forthcoming EP is going to be something really, really special.
BIRD WHISTLE is released on October 1st. The EP, Daisy, is out November 7th.
Written by Grubby
