Austin’s fast rising multilingual folk fusion group, Ley Line, release their new single “En Busca del Agua” today on all digital platforms including Spotify, Apple Music, and more. The single was previously released as a Bandcamp exclusive with the proceeds going to support the Austin Youth River Watch, and with so much positive feedback from fans that love and resonate with the song, Ley Line decided to release it officially during the week of Earth Day.
Ley Line is hot on the heels of performing virtually at SXSW Online 2021 where they were just featured as a top SXSW pick from Bob Boilen who called the band “a super talented group” on NPR’s All Things Considered. NPR Music also included them as a SXSW pick on All Songs Considered too.
For Ley Line, water conservation has always been an important issue dating back to their 2019 breakout single and ode to fresh water, “Oxum.” Along with the release of “Oxum,” Ley Line worked with local organizations including Save Our Springs Alliance and Colorado River Alliance to call activism and awareness around protected and healthy fresh water.
“En Busca del Agua” was inspired by an invitation to collaborate on the soundtrack for Fé de Francisca; a film dedicated to a 107 year old spiritual leader in Chapada dos Guimarães, Brazil. The band explains, “We were asked to write a song about our own connection to healing and living in integrity with the land. Our inspiration is inextricably linked to the waters that connect us across the world.” “En Busca del Agua” is Spanish for “In search of water.” The mantra-like lyrics were written by Emilie Basez as a meditation on days when she would go to Barton Springs in Austin to collect drinking water. The lyrics and melody serve as a reminder of how precious this life-sustaining resource is. Emilie adds, “It’s easy to take it for granted when we turn the sink on and water flows, but here in Texas we all had a very eye-opening experience back in February when winter storms cut off water supply to millions of us across the state.”
Oddly enough, Ley Line had recorded this song just one day before the storm hit and as if by premonition the words “let’s go search for water” seemed all too appropriate. After the worst of the weather was over, the band pitched in volunteering to help provide water and resources to Austinites in need.
Madeleine Fronceck describes the magic of what makes the new single so special, “This is our first single entirely in Spanish, it’s also the fastest we’ve ever written, recorded and produced a track and the first time we’ve done almost the entirety of the production by ourselves! We spent such a long time working on We Saw Blue and really slaved over every detail and it really tells a story of our evolution over these last three years, but I think we all wanted the next thing we released to feel easy and of the moment. It has the element of a mantra that much of our work does and of course the close harmonies that are central to the Ley Line sound, but there’s a more electronic feel to it with the synth that makes it feel very current and new to us.”
The band concludes, “The theme of water and the connection to Brazil is central to the album We Saw Blue and accompanying visual album premiering on May 14th. This single carries on those same components. It is about how we are all connected by the waterways that connect the planet and by this humbling human experience. We hope the song offers you that feeling of connection and that you will tune in for the premier of the visual album so we can dive deeper into this exploration of our human connection.”
Tickets to Ley Line’s live streaming event (5/14) for their visual album launch can be found here https://leylinesound.bandcamp.com/merch/visual-album-premiere.
