Léan, the gothic metal/post-DSBM duo comprised of Lorelei Ether, keyboard player and vocalist with The Lust and Goot and Vaarwel, the creative force behind Frozen Ocean and a member of Goatpsalm and Meister Leonhardt, who introduced themselves to the world earlier this year with the ‘Desuetude‘ track, have signed with Apocalyptic Witchcraft for the release of their debut album Meristeme, a work of melancholy, melody, magic and dramatic musical contrasts.
Vaarwel has been speaking about the origins of the Léan project, giving some insight into the roots from which it grew…
“Léan as a concept appeared in 2018. Lorelei Ether composed her first songs in the hospital – the first one was designed for our post-black project Lebenslust:404 (hopefully there will be an album soon), and the second one was to be amongst songs on an album of a new band. She named the band Léan and it had two meanings. First, Léan was an abbreviation for the name Eleanora, a character from a story by Edgar Allan Poe of the same name. Second, Léan was almost consonant to ‘лиана’ (vine), and it adds up to the proposed theme of the project. The project was originally going to be plant-themed and the first album was to be named Cordial Excrescences. The idea didn’t last long however, as Lorelei wanted more freedom in the project. The earliest song from our upcoming album is ‘Waldensamkeit‘. It was the fifth song that Lorelei composed for Léan. Then, the latest song on the album is the new single, ‘Hindmost‘. There were more than twenty songs composed for Léan, and we could already prepare a track list for another album.”
The Meristeme album will be released by Apocalyptic Witchcraft on February 12th 2027, but the first single, ‘Hindmost’, is available right now. ‘Hindmost’ brings together lilting melody and thundering drums, searing harshness and reflective emotion, Lorelei’s exquisite, delicate vocals and Vaarwel’s fiercely grim black metal rasp, islands of tranquillity amidst a torrent of fury – an array of impossible juxtapositions that make perfect sense and flow into each other with sublime smoothness. You can watch the video for ‘Hindmost’, rich in dreamlike imagery, at the Apocalyptic Witchcraft YouTube channel now:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOkgWSWjuYE
Watch out for further single releases from Léan in the coming weeks!
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