"Led by composer Rishin Singh, this sublime ensemble fits neatly into the complex of Berlin musicians devoted to alternate tunings. Blending exquisite, enveloping long tones, the measured singing of Annie Gårlid and Stine Sterne, and stately, slowly unfolding melodies, Leider is an art-song combo that finds the commonalities in John Dowland, the Velvet Underground, and La Monte Young." --Peter Margasak
Leider is an ensemble that plays songs by Rishin Singh and hails from the city of Berlin. A Fog Like Liars Loving, their debut album, is fragile and delicate music that reflects the darker side of urban living -- themes of addiction, alienation, casual cruelty, and paranoia are present throughout -- while maintaining an understated gallows humor. Though difficult to categorize, they can reference the textures of musique concrète or the structures of Wandelweiser. They can also devolve into cascades of no-wave inspired noise and are almost always just at the edge of falling apart. These eight songs extend a patient hand to the listener, playing with chance and human idiosyncrasy: exposed instrumental playing where the hairs scraping across strings and the air required to produce a note are as important as the notes themselves. Hardly ever truly in tune or in time with one another, yet fully in conversation. Hardly a note that isn't broken or damaged in some way, both antidote and mirror to the disintegration of sedentary life. A Fog Like Liars Loving is an album that takes its time and trusts its audience to do the same, a Cagean unspooling of our "great expectations" that will keep you coming back for more, humming along all the while. Simultaneously unnerving and pleasantly tranquilizing, a path without a path, clear in concept yet deeply sensual, A Fog Like Liars Loving exists in a world of its own. RIYL: Olivier Messiaen, Eva-Maria Houben, John Cale, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Jürg Frey, Morton Feldman, Alexander Scriabin, Nico (minus the racism), Richard Strauss, Scott Walker, Low, Carlo Gesualdo, Hariprasad Chaurasia, Yo La Tengo. Recorded in Summer 2018 at studioboerne45, Berlin. Recorded and mixed by Adam Asnan. Mastered by Rafael Anton Irisarri at Black Knoll Studio, New York. Design and photography by Anna Bernhardt.