Introducing: Leilani Patao

Leilani Patao is one of the rising stars on the Audio Antihero roster, with the recently-released daisy EP being a great introduction to their sound.

Glitchy, sometimes lo-fi, but drawing from dream pop and electronica, warping sounds and expectations, its six songs might be hard to categorise, but are oh-so-easy to love. Patao spoke to us as part of our Introducing series.

First up, could you tell us something about yourself?

My name is Leilani Patao! I was born and raised in Los Angeles, and now I’m based in Brooklyn. My next project is my EP ‘daisy,’ which won’t be released on streaming, but can be found on Bandcamp, in physical forms like CDs, and experienced live in person.

I’ve been releasing music since I was 17, but somehow this is my first EP. I’m a Libra, my favorite food is Poké, and my favorite season is fall. I’m a big fan of physical media, books, and soup.

Who would you say are your main influences?

I would say my influences are all over the place right now. When I made this EP, I had MUNA, underscores, Grumpy, Djo, and Daft Punk on my mind a lot. But also, in the year I made the EP, I also was listening to a lot of k.d. lang, Rosie Tucker, Paramore, and The Brothers Cazimero.

It was also really cold in my old apartment, and I was sort of restless for a couple months there when I was working on this EP, so I think those feelings are also really baked into the music in a way.

How does the creative process work for you/within the band?

I write all my own songs and typically produce them alone. Some would say I’m a perfectionist but I think I just like to be the one who knows what I want. But it really doesn’t feel like I write and produce alone, especially with the music on this EP. I’m always listening to the music my friends make, or music out in the world, and I really do feel like a big soup if everything I’ve ever heard.

Up until this EP, my creative process had almost always felt like an instinct or like it was involuntary, like writing on paper or grooving to a beat. I’d sit down with a guitar and when I got up again, I’d have a new song.

But with this EP, I was having a harder time tapping into music like that. I didn’t seem to have the words in the same way, and I wasn’t processing the emotions I was currently having through song anymore.

So, it’s become really important to my creative process to just live life for a bit, let things come to me when I’m ready, and to just be out in the world as me. I started building tracks first before I had all the lyrics, and I let the music guide where I wanted to take the story.

What local (to you) bands or artists should we be keeping an eye out for?

I live in New York, and there’s really so much cool stuff happening here. And I have so many friends in bands; I could actually talk forever about this. I’m a big fan of Grumpy. I literally already mentioned them, but they are so cool. Their sound is everything to me, and the whole band is very nice.

Also, a band called Babe City, I went to school with them, and they’re killer live, and their latest project is really gorgeous. I’ve gotta shout out Stepford Wives. I went to middle school with one of the lead singers, and it’s been really cool to reconnect and be in the same scene.

And of course, I’ve gotta shout out the two bands who were on my EP release bill, cherrigekko and Sumaya Nazar. cherrigekko has such a perfect aesthetic, the music is so fun, and is just another really nice person to be around. And Sumaya Nazar is genuinely the future; her music is so good, she’s so intentional with everything she does, and she’s a total sweetheart.

What advice would you give someone starting out in the music business?

I would tell someone just starting out that they should try to check in with themselves and define success in their own way. It’s easy to fall into the hole of what everyone else thinks, to listen to everyone’s contradicting advice, to look left and right and compare yourself to everyone else’s journeys.

I think what’s helped me figure out what I want is to constantly check in with myself. I have a bad habit of comparing myself, wanting what other people have just because it looks like the shape of what I’d want. But especially with this EP, I really asked myself, how do I want people to hear this music?

How can I feel like this release was a success? What can I try to make happen for myself that would feel like “making it” by my own definition? And those answers change a lot. But I feel like I’m working towards something important to me, and not for anyone else. I think that’s what makes it worth it. 

Which do you prefer, sad bangers or indie bops?

I can confidently say I’ve become more of an indie bop person. I think for a long time I only listened to sad songs. They’re beautiful, and at the time, I think I just thought that being sad made better songs. Like, I was in high school getting driven by mom, blasting Phoebe Bridgers and Mitski at 7am.

That’s perhaps not the best way to start the morning off. But the songs are gorgeous, and I was just finding my footing in what I liked. I love those artists to this day, but I’ve since expanded my horizons a bit.

My music taste is a bit more varied, and I take the sad with the bops. But I think real magic happens when something makes you want to dance and also want to listen to the lyrics. That’s what I’m going for at least.

Which comes first – lyrics or melody?

Even though my lyrics are important to me, I’ve always been a melody-first writer. Everything is influenced by the melody! I think whatever melody comes out of me first heavily influences the feelings that bubble up for the lyrics.

And the melody determines how much time I have to say the lyrics, and it shifts the impact of the lyrics depending on what range I’m in.

But from that point, it’s a little dance between lyrics and melody to really bring the song to life. I don’t think I could ever do one step without at least thinking of the second. I’ve never been able to write a poem and then put that into a song, and I’m always thinking about what I want to say when making a melody. It’s all connected.

Do you prefer the stage or the recording studio?

I do think I go through phases of wanting to be in front of people and wanting to keep it all a secret. And I find myself right now in a sharing kind of mood.

I grew up performing. I did theatre from the ages of 8 to 19, and so being on stage has always felt freeing. I love getting up there, letting whatever feelings and thoughts and vocal riffs bubble up, and just having a fun time.

It’s the feeling of everything aligning, all the hard work coming to a point, and getting to just let it go. I haven’t performed in a while, and I’m sort of itching for it. I’m excited to hopefully get to play this music so much more soon.

Could you tell us something about your new single/EP/album?

daisy has become such a special project to me. I named the EP after my childhood dog, Daisy, who unfortunately passed about a year and a half ago. We grew up together, and it’s been really lovely to get to talk about her through this project, even though all of the songs were written after her passing.

This project was super experimental for me, both in its sound and in my choice to keep it off of streaming. I, at first, had set off to make something that pushed the boundary of what I thought I could do, and I think it was in trying a new sound that I really found who I was as an artist. And it only feels right to release this project on my terms and in the way that I want to.

Streaming didn’t feel good to me anymore. It wasn’t paying any artist properly, Spotify has direct ties to AI and military tech, and it felt like the algorithm was messing with how I enjoyed music.

So, I cancelled my streaming subscriptions, and I decided to see if I could still release music, I was proud of without centering the platform that was making me unhappy with the music industry.

What’s up next for you in terms of live appearances, new music, or anything else you’d like to share?

I’ve got some tricks up my sleeve left in the world of daisy, so I suppose stay tuned for that. I’m working on some extra tracks, some special videos, things to keep this release going.

Leilani Patao plays The Woodbridge in Los Angeles tonight. You can pick up daisy in digital, CD, and cassette format on Bandcamp. Be sure to catch up with Patao on Instagram, TikTok, or Substack for all their latest news.