Peep This: Leland Sundries “Maps of the West”
Leland Sundries lead singer Nick Loss-Eaton has a nicotine stained, whiskey tinged sepia tone to his voice. A no apologies attitude with cracks and breaks lining the walls of his songs. The band’s sound is uptempo and two stepping across a creaking wood floor, but sentimental in its own way and the roots-Americana vibe of it all is undeniable. Thats Brooklyn country for you. Yes, Brooklyn. The rootsy outfit hails from the borough and has been blending it own form of roots rock for a while now but only just released a debut record in the past few weeks.
When asked about the “sound” of the band, Loss-Eaton responded “Oh man, that’s a harder question than it sounds. I’d say that we draw on different American traditions of music while getting pretty rowdy these days.” which is evident in their latest video, which heavily features the landscape of their city dwelling and the band performing in the backyard of a friend’s brownstone. Which got me thinking about the community that seems to be thriving in and around NYC.
Nick commented, “There are interlocking scenes in Brooklyn and I think we’re at the intersection of Americana, singer-songwriter, garage rock, and indie rock. A rich scene has definitely started to coalesce around the
studio where we record called the Creamery. I definitely get inspired by the music that my friends make, like Emily Einhorn, the Mona Dahls, Ruby Rae, Exiles, The Low Doses, A Deer A Horse, and so many others. I go out pretty regularly to see them play and they all have wildly original ideas that I wouldn’t have thought of. It can be overwhelming to play music in Brooklyn but at the same time, once you find some peers, people are really supportive and encouraging. It’s fun to watch friends meet and start playing with one another, like Jon Hildenstein and Alice Sorensen, two wonderful songwriters who are now starting a project. I think they met at our show at Muchmore’s!”.
Check out the new video from the band and keep an eye out for them coming through your town on tour this summer.
