Hawaiian-born and based in New York state’s Hudson Valley, guitarist and singer-songwriter Lea Thomas makes beautiful, spacious music that combines pop-oriented sounds with something more ethereal and less focused on traditional structures.
The music is quietly complex, with precise production, but Lea is also an adept live performer, something seemingly innate.
“I remember being at this piano recital at around five years old with one of my best friends,” Lea laughs.
“We had the complete opposite experience of being on stage. I was having a great time and thinking everyone’s going to be fucking stoked that I’m killing this recital, and my friend was mortified and so shy. It was the first moment I felt that I liked this and not everybody did.”
Live & Learn
Perhaps we humans are split into those who love being on stage and those who find it incredibly uncomfortable, but Lea feels she went on a journey with the whole process.
“At first I was not nervous at all,” she says, “but I think it’s been a whole arc for me. I went from being genuinely excited to be on stage, to thinking too much about it and putting too much pressure on myself.
“That was probably around my early 20s, and as I’ve gotten older and played a bunch of shows – some great and some not so great – I’ve recognised that it’s an experience you can offer and that the audience is responsible for its own experience, too. It takes the pressure off of you wanting to be received in a certain way.”
Sound Affects
Lea’s sound balances more traditional pop music with a delicate, looser structure, plus some more muscular playing in places. We wonder when she realised she was honing her own style?
“I was writing songs from around eight or nine years old,” she tells us, “but once I got a guitar I began to deeply identify with music, more than just what was popular, and building an arsenal of influences. And then a family friend on Maui was leaving the island, so he sold us a mini-kit of dynamic mics and capos and Logic and stuff.
“We turned my brother’s room into a studio when I was about 15 – it meant the last two years of high school were spent in deep exploration, writing songs, layering harmonies, arrangements and production. That led me to going to an audio engineering trade school in New York.”
Sonic Landscapes
Lea’s fourth long-player, Cosmos Forever, is her second collaboration with partner and producer John Thayer, and sees her further evolve the sound captured on 2021 predecessor, Mirrors To The Sun.
“It’s always evolving,” she smiles. “This one feels slightly more atmospheric, while bringing in my early influences of folk guitar and fingerpicking, especially that nylon-guitar sound. But I really enjoy that ambient sound and [John] is very skilled at that – his style is more about those soundscapes.
“When we do these collaborations, it tends to bridge those worlds and Cosmos felt like the first time it really lined up in a way that represented my songs. I really enjoyed it.”
Seeking Harmony
Although we mention the delicate side of Lea’s music, with songs such as We Must Be In Love springing to mind, there is a more intense side to her work, which comes to the fore on the title track in particular.
“Oh yeah, it can get heavy. I’ve always been a bit intense, thinking about what’s not working in the world and why we can’t come back to the harmony we see in nature and learning from the rhythms and cycles of the seasons…
“There is an intensity to that, so it’s not just fluffy stuff. It was an interesting practice to see how to lean into that without it being alienating. It’s fun, you know?”
Lea’s father used to build guitars as well as playing them, meaning she’s always been surrounded by instruments.
“Right now, my favourite is this Goldtop replica,” she says, showing us a familiar-outlined single-cut. “He built this about 10 years ago and almost all of his guitars were focused on Japanese replicas. There was a time when Tokai were really going off and mastering these Goldtop Gibsons especially.
“I love this one because it’s pretty and heavy and it has this really long sustain, so it’s good for music with moments of space and quiet.”
- Cosmos Forever is out now via Triple Dolphin.
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