Lealani, “Floating” (Dome of Doom)
One of the upsides of insomnia is the chance hearing of a great tune on the radio. Yesterday, I unintentionally woke up around 3 am and turned on the radio just in time to hear KEXP DJ and former Stranger freelancer Abbie Gobeli play Lealani’s “Floating.” Now, a lot of music sounds amazing when heard in that hypnagogic state between sleep and wakefulness, and this song was no exception. So I put it to the listening test during the sober daylight of a Wednesday afternoon, and, reader, it holds up. Making everything better, Lealani is a mere 19 years old, with what looks like a promising career ahead of her. If you’re keeping score at home, she’s just usurped Billie Eilish as my favorite teen-aged musician.
Lealani kicks major ass on her debut album, Fantastic Planet (nod to Alain Goraguer’s phenomenal soundtrack of the same title noted; the 1973 cult animated film’s original French title is La Planète Sauvage). The record showcases her charmingly despondent vocals (think Anika, but with a higher pitch), which deadpan over seriously wonky synthesizer drones, ill oscillations, and beats in no hurry to nudge you out of your funk. Honestly, the sadder Lealani sounds, the better her music feels.
The aforementioned “Floating” comes across like a mutant-disco anti-anthem on Benadryl, as Lealani narrates a tale of disconcerting disorientation. (Sample lyrics: “floating from the sky to the ground/don’t you see it’s your insides/turning inside and out/upside down your intestines/lift your soul to the clouds.” Huh.) The track features some of the album’s most unnerving synth tones and unquantized beats, which make it seem as if the planet is wobbling off its axis. That’s always a good thing in my book. This may be quixotic thinking, but “Floating” deserves, at the very least, to become an underground club hit.
Fantastic Planet is available now on cassette and digital formats; the red vinyl edition drops on July 26.
