Over the past few years, Leifur James has steadily built a reputation as a vital new voice in electronic music on both sides of the Atlantic. The experimental producer, composer, and vocalist has just released his third full-length album, Magic Seeds, via Night Time Stories.
Relocating from his hometown London gave James the space to create with added luminosity in the city of light, Lisbon. An ambitious record that could work both in open spaces and in dank clubs, Magic Seeds is a rebirth of sorts, and his most collaborative and personal offering yet. Taking listeners to great highs and plunging them into inky depths, we speak to James about the sonic collage of his past few years whirled into one.
You’ve just released your new album. How does it feel to have it out in the world?
It’s taken a while to release this record. I’m looking forward to playing it live and re-imagining it in the live space — the live experience might be quite different to the record! I’ve always felt over the years of listening to music, the records that take a while to create can have a little more depth, through allowing the creative process to breathe and stand the test of time.
It’s been described as your most collaborative and personal offering yet. Can you tell us a little more about that?
I’m usually fairly self-sufficient on releases but I wanted to connect and collaborate more on this record after those isolated Covid years — I was craving human interaction! I was inspired by the old Talk Talk’s Spirit of Eden recording process, where they recorded together in a crypt in London for months and months. I think you can hear that energy, connection, and musicianship in this record at the root. I definitely brought more people together on this release to bring together community and depth to the sound, and then I processed and messed around with it all for a while.
When did you start making music?
I started playing music when I was four — my mum didn’t have much, but went out to get me a cello with everything she had. I learnt a lot about music on that cello! I had to play with my thumbs as my hands were too small. It taught me everything I know about melody and dynamics. Creating, producing, and composing music started to happen in my teens with very basic projects and ideas and evolved into my early twenties.
“I’m usually fairly self-sufficient on releases but I wanted to connect and collaborate more on this record after those isolated Covid years.”
What were your earliest influences?
My earliest influences were from the film world. I remember the early Coen Brothers films music getting into my head, Nina Simone for her message and intensity, a lot of the 2009 underground music scene in the UK, that Talk Talk record I mentioned, and I’ve more recently been re-connecting with early 2000s DJ shadow/MassiveAttack era. There’s also always been a joy for me listening to the spirit of Alice Coltrane and experimentation of Steve Reich. I never really can say one or two as I’m very broad with my listening.
On my NTS show a couple of years ago, I gave a hint into what I was listening to — Lonnie Liston Smith, Boldy James, Talking Heads, Keith Jarrett, Dev Hynes. I’ll listen to anything that takes me somewhere emotionally or physically.
On my NTS show a couple of years ago, I gave a hint into what I was listening to — Lonnie Liston Smith, Boldy James, Talking Heads, Keith Jarrett, Dev Hynes. I’ll listen to anything that takes me somewhere emotionally or physically.
Your 2018 debut album A Louder Silence defied convention with its deft blend of IDM and minimalist avant-garde influences, and 2020’s Angel in Disguise garnered attention from the dance music world. How did the process differ with Magic Seeds, and where do you think it sits sonically in comparison?
Magic Seeds in its title was about a period of new growth. If you’re brave enough to stop what you’re doing, down tools, and start a fresh with a new energy — that’s what I hoped to do here. I remember the record label questioning me doing different things on different records; but for me that keeps it exciting and interesting. After all, what would be special about each project if they were replicas of each other?
A Louder Silence combined organic and electronic elements, while Angel in Disguise was more electronic and DJ focused. Maybe this one is more organic or a different way of combining those. When you begin writing music, you throw spaghetti at the wall and create an ecosystem of ideas. I think, as you progress in further records, you explore the cross-section and all the corners of your sound. This one has focused in a bit more on one side of what I do.
The next might be completely the other side! I thought about going back a stage in time with this record to the influences of my influences and finding inspiration in the past. I’ve also been considering a reworked version, tbc.
A Louder Silence combined organic and electronic elements, while Angel in Disguise was more electronic and DJ focused. Maybe this one is more organic or a different way of combining those. When you begin writing music, you throw spaghetti at the wall and create an ecosystem of ideas. I think, as you progress in further records, you explore the cross-section and all the corners of your sound. This one has focused in a bit more on one side of what I do.
The next might be completely the other side! I thought about going back a stage in time with this record to the influences of my influences and finding inspiration in the past. I’ve also been considering a reworked version, tbc.
You grew up in London but recently moved to Lisbon. What attracted you to the city of light, and how has it influenced your sound?
Lisbon’s a city I’ve visited for many years, my oldest friend lives there. So it was like a home away from home with a lot more light, vibrance, and I felt there were more lifestyle returns there to what London was providing for me, to feed me creatively in the final stages of this record. I also needed a change from London after spending my whole life there!
I’m back in London for a month now for rehearsals; and having had some time away from the city, I’m seeing it with a new perspective. The music and art culture here is probably the best in the world. Moving between the two is where I may end up. I was at the end of the process when I moved to Lisbon, so I’m not sure it has influenced me fully sonically yet, but I think the Latin influence will with what’s to come.
I’m back in London for a month now for rehearsals; and having had some time away from the city, I’m seeing it with a new perspective. The music and art culture here is probably the best in the world. Moving between the two is where I may end up. I was at the end of the process when I moved to Lisbon, so I’m not sure it has influenced me fully sonically yet, but I think the Latin influence will with what’s to come.
“We have to let go when we start anew, so this idea of the balance of the end being the catalyst for the new beginning is in the core of the message.”
There are themes, both personal, societal and environmental, that reveal themselves subtly throughout the record. Can you touch on those please?
“An artist’s duty, as far as I’m concerned, is to reflect the times. I think that is true of painters, sculptors, poets, musicians.” Something that stuck with me famously said by Nina Simone. I resonated with that sense of a duty with music to give to the world, and felt with this record it was my duty to write about this era, what we are experiencing communally and what I’ve experienced personally. Anything else would be dishonest.
I could have taken this record in a different, more dance commercial direction, but I thought for a while, if I want to look back in years to come on a series of beats I’d written or something that’s telling a real story and talks about an era and time we found ourselves in. When I started writing this in 2022, Ukraine had been invaded by Russia and began this series of invasions we've seen across the world, Covid had just ended but not fully, everyone was still feeling the repercussions. Extreme weather patterns were also happening all around the world — and it was around Spring time.
I was thinking about the concept of spring, new light, and this idea of some magic seeds that could be sewed societally and environmentally to start a new period of growth for the world, and for myself. We have to let go when we start anew, so this idea of the balance of the end being the catalyst for the new beginning is in the core of the message.
I could have taken this record in a different, more dance commercial direction, but I thought for a while, if I want to look back in years to come on a series of beats I’d written or something that’s telling a real story and talks about an era and time we found ourselves in. When I started writing this in 2022, Ukraine had been invaded by Russia and began this series of invasions we've seen across the world, Covid had just ended but not fully, everyone was still feeling the repercussions. Extreme weather patterns were also happening all around the world — and it was around Spring time.
I was thinking about the concept of spring, new light, and this idea of some magic seeds that could be sewed societally and environmentally to start a new period of growth for the world, and for myself. We have to let go when we start anew, so this idea of the balance of the end being the catalyst for the new beginning is in the core of the message.
And finally, do you have an exciting plans to share for 2025 now the album is out in the world?
I’m doing a European tour in spring 2025 and more to be released. It’s probably the most ambitious live show I’ve done, it’s going to be announced soon.
