Picked this album up recently and it’s pretty strange and quirky in a cool way.
Anyone here into Leila or know of her? For those that don’t know here is a run down of her and her new album…
About the new album…
“It’s been eight years since Leila Arab, Iranian-born producer and erstwhile member of Björk’s touring band, released her second album, a gap caused in part by the loss of both parents. Judging from the texture of Blood, Looms and Blooms, she has been watching a lot of movies. Carplos’s tense, layered synths evoke a John Carpenter soundtrack; Lush Dolphins bathes in the indigo magic of an underwater fairytale; and Mettle, with its bubbling undercurrents and wounded roars of guitar, sounds like a vast horror-movie beast rumbling through a sewer. This has an enthralling, dream-like quality of its own, so it’s no surprise to encounter two of Britain’s drowsiest singers, Terry Hall and Martina Topley Bird, crossing paths like sleepwalkers on the closing Why Should I? The listener emerges unsettled and intrigued.”
About Leila…
"once upon a time there was a girl called leila. she taught herself to play piano, bought lots of records and even started to dj whilst at university…but music was really her private joy. on her travels she met a lady called bjork who is a very special singer and so leila spent some time travelling around with her and playing music. eventually the time came for leila to go and make her own music. she went back home and made a record called like weather that her friend richard james released on his label rephlex. she was rather surprised by the praise it received and continued making noise at home. then other people asked leila to make more albums, so she made courtesy of choice and gave it to xl.
leila’s mum sadly became ill and leila was happy to be with her all the time, but she passed away which was a big shock for leila and her family. leila went round the world live mixing for bjorks travelling band for a bit , but music still didnt feel so very important anymore . so she came back home and was enjoying mooching around and spending tim with her family, then leilas dad suddenly passed away and she was most utterly stunned by the double loss and the particularly peculiar reality of the lack of control that is a reality of the human condition.
such a perspective meant that commitedly making and finishing music became an even more distant thought as art is the assertion and conviction of one persons reality over all other possibilities, probabilities and variables. yet leila still understood how very lucky she was to have a passion in life, so she had to woo music back by sitting in her studio and making noise . as she began to rebuild her sonic muscles, leila slowly realised that making noise still made her very happy. her sister roya, her friend luca, khemahl and taon the children of her friend donna paul, seaming to, martina topley bird, terry hall and andy cox all came round to play and sing for leila in her room and as if by magic, blood looms and blooms began to come to life…but who to give this music to? well, leila decided that this work would be happiest at warp where many of her friends release music.
as well as the new album, much of her music was created to be mixed live and so leila, her mixing desk and her sonic friends look forward to performing. somewhere. near you.soon.
On 7 July Leila is to release her first album for WARP. Called ‘Blood, Looms and Blooms’ the record, which features Terry Hall, Martina Topley Bird and Andy Cox, is Leila’s first for 8 years, following 1998’s ‘Like Weather’ and 200’s ‘Courtesy’ of Choice’.
On 14 July 2008 electronic maverick Leila is to release a new single, ‘Deflect’, on WARP. Available on 12" and CD formats, the title track features Martina Topley Bird and, as with all Leila’s single releases, is backed with brand new tracks. Both formats also feature ‘Duwayne’, ‘In The Garden’ and ‘Twelved’, which are not available elsewhere."