Leifur James has long been a key name in the avant-garde side of London’s electronic music scene. For his third album, he changed his perspective with a move to Lisbon, and the body of work oozes freedom in its creation. The record, Magic Seeds, is poetic and piercing, brimming with captivating production choices and songwriting that is laconic, fleeting yet deeply thoughtful. Across the 10 tracks, James shows himself to be fiercely unique and deftly skilful, and quickly progressing his textured and cinematic sonic credo. Wonderland asked the polymath to analyse the LP, a track at a time.

Listen to the album…

Read the track-by-track…

“Smoke In The Air”
“Smoke In The Air” originated from a feeling of connection. When you have a magnetism and a smoke like haze that surrounds you both. I realised in time the symbol of fire in this song also held a wider message about global warming, forest fires and societal unrest. It was everything that was happening at the time it was written. There were extreme weather patterns and Russia invading Ukraine, so it was a volatile time. There’s a few themes in here, in the end I can only say what I understood at the time from the writing process and my connection to it. Another listener may find something completely different, and that’s free for them to interpret and connect with.

“Magic Seeds”
This track became the title track of the record, it embodied the various messages through the album. The idea came from a piano line I recorded on my grandmothers piano – I used some really basic microphones to record it and a tribal type drum I found at home. The mix of the piano took ages as it was a dodgy recording setup but the piano had a raw feeling and the rough mic setup add a character I wanted to keep in the track. I often feel that first take is impossible to recapture the first sensation, I always build around it. I was thinking about a classic sound in here, going back in time – but finding some modernities too. You can hear a mellotron bringing the textures and top lines throughout. The mellotron featured a lot on this record.

“Measure of Mind”
There’s times in the recording and writing process that take’s a lot of resilience. You’re tested and have to chip away again and again – sometimes questioning your choices and thinking it’s all a load of crap! Life or relationships can feel similar in moments, days where you have to show mental resilience and be tested. The driving Krautrock energy in this one felt like a physical and mental determination to move forward. It brought me back a bit to argonaut on “A Louder Silence”, but a new energy. 

“Euphoria”
It was spring 2022 and there was a change in the seasons. When spring comes in England it’s like everything is born again, it’s a massive lift in energy after the long winter. Growth is a theme in this record, personally, societally, environmentally – and that feeling of euphoria of new growth, the turn of the year towards the summer was at the root of this. I ran the synth through my Roland tape machine very late on in finishing this, its giving that spin and off rhythms to the synth and was the final touch it needed. The drums are also falling on a really weird pattern here- but there’s an energy I didn’t want to change. Smoke in the air took a year or two to finish this only took a day. Sometimes capturing a feeling is all that matters.

“Forest of Love”
This came from that first day of recording with Leo, Raven and Oli, we did a 40 minute recording with no plan. I added a formanta Russian drum machine driving that industrial sound behind – and layered later – the lyrics here are really talking about those core themes of what was happening in 2022 and still now. “Leave us alone, to dance. The world is a place where the wars start to stain. Where’s the forest of love, over war child’s war child’s”.

“Inner Child”
If you take off the vocal line this sounds like an intense techno work, I really like the instrumental in its own form but the vocal came naturally later, and was speaking a bit about getting down to your seeds as human being, your childhood self and talking to that version of you, letting them know a few things you learned in adult life. Once that part came on it was hard not to let it speak.

“Lay”
“Lay” is a piece of chaos in the album, I wanted one piece of chaos to break the record up. It opens out into a clearing when the ethereal backing comes in half way through. Like a storm that clears, I like that feeling. I ran this piano recording where I was speaking into the piano mic through a guitar pedal – it made this glitched effect at the beginning. The drums and bass hold it all together and rumble along.

“Wake Up Spring”
This was another that felt great originally as an instrumental and I may release an edit. It speaks for itself in many ways – there’s a light energy to it that I finished when I was in Lisbon. It’s an uplift on the record of new growth. I recorded live harp and piano with a radio recording at the end to add a weird transition into the next.

“Room 68” 
I think “Room 68” is one my favourites on the record. I used the first take of guitar I played on here, there’s always the raw energy in it. 6/8 are my birth numbers – I liked the idea of sitting in my Room 68. I dug into a lot of obscure drum machines on this! 

“Alive” 
One of the key tracks that came out of the live recording 2 years ago was “Alive”, I slowed it all down and Leo played a dramatic drum line with raven tremolo’ing strings – I added some grit to the bass on the pro 5 to contrast to it. Theres a whole second section here I chose to bring in later. I thought for a while I could cut the start and have the second section just as warm feeling to finish the record, but the drama of the bass and drums at the start and when it changes half way through to the guitar and fx, you have to really wait for that cathartic moment. It reminded be of the film portrait of a lady on fire where the first 40 minutes has no music at all in the film, finally when it comes you feel overwhelmed. I enjoy being playful with structure and making the listener wait. The title of this came from a final sensation of the narrative of the record, to be and feel alive.