Only Violets & Santiago Leyba

Only Violets & Santiago Leyba is a split release of material recorded and produced by Leyba during 2020 and 2021 between Austin, Texas; Albuquerque, New Mexico and Los Angeles, California. Leyba has been writing and performing music as a solo artist and in collaborations since 2009. Leyba is known for his releases with the Belgian label Unknown Precept: “Rooms” (2017), “Life, Money, Work (2017), and “Pennies” (forthcoming 2021) as well as his double LP “Western Vices” (2019) for Private Selection Records. Apart from these he has appeared on various cassette and vinyl releases under the names “Locked in Blue,” “Western Versions” and “U.S. hard.” This self-titled EP was recorded with consumer-grade equipment and instruments in borrowed apartments. There may be a sense of chance at points, as if some of the songs suddenly decided to form a structure out of the drum-machine’s repetition, yet still they pull back as if to say “I took a wrong turn at Suicide and Big Star and I don’t quite know how I got here.” “You got to believe You got to believe You got to believe You got to believe in a heartland In a heartland”