LANNDS discuss influences behind debut LP; stream new single “Bonfire”
Jacksonville, FL-based duo LANNDS are releasing their debut LP, Music For The Future, on March 3 via Run for Cover. We've already heard the dreamy "Blueprint", and today we're premiering another new single, "Bonfire." It's an expansive track with jazzy saxaphone and irresistable rhythms, and you can hear it below.
"I started this as another demo and lyrics early spring of 2020 before Brian and I took it in a different direction," Rania Woodard says. "This song is meant to capture the feeling of when you are done with old patterns to make room for new ways. When you’re used to accepting things as the norm, it's hard to stand up for yourself so this song is affirmation to keeping those patterns and people away. To accept a new version of yourself and what you want."
LANNDS also told us about some of the influences behind Music For The Future, which include the music of Frank Ocean and Holy Other, and more. Read that, complete with commentary, below.
LANNDS: MUSIC FOR THE FUTURE INFLUENCES
Frank Ocean - Blonde
Rania: I’m not the only one that feels this way but there’s this sense of familiarity with the record, you feel like you know him like he’s your neighbor. He really let us in. It helped me connect more with myself to convey that message out loud.
Appalachian Mountains
Rania: We took a week away from our lives to spend quiet and focused time working on the record, in Elijay, GA. I didn’t have any expectations on what I would write, I just went to that space and asked the universe “what should I say right now?”
Jacksonville, Florida
Brian: Our apartments in Jacksonville were a few blocks apart, and we’d always walk to each other’s places to work on the record. And we did a ton of bike riding. And a lot of our time was spent outside at night.
That feeling of knowing you’re about to leave
Rania and Brian: The whole time we were working on the record, we know we were moving to LA at the end of the year, and this was the last record we’d make in Florida. When you know that your time somewhere is ending, it adds weight to everything you do, and changes the way every action feels. This was the last chapter of an era of LANNDS and on to something new for us.
Transformation
Rania: A big theme on the album is shedding an old part of yourself and becoming familiar with the new parts. Part of this is acclimating to the new self awareness and holding yourself accountable.
All our favorite places
Rania and Brian: The porch at Brian’s apartment, the top of the main street bridge, Nacho Taco on Stockon St, the spot by the St Johns river on the end of Aberdeen St, China Joy on Margaret st, Vagabond coffee, Burrito Gallery, the bench on the riverwalk by the YMCA. Five points.
Sampling found sounds
Rania and Brian: We sampled a lot of stuff from our lives in this record: Rania’s mom telling a story about a near death experience, the washing machine in our cabin, the heavy downpour on the porch, Rania’s childhood pastor, birds from a canoe trip.
Holy Other
Brian: Holy Other is an electronic artist who does dark, textural sounds and you can feel it in your body when listening. We tried to add in a lot of explosive moments and texture-based sounds.
Fender Duosonic
Rania: I wanted to be more expressive on guitar on this record, and I wanted to mess around with a new tone that I felt like really steps in to how we wanted to sound as band.