‘We never struggle to create.’ - Left Tracks
I don’t know about you, but I feel like being on the internet now is synonymous with bad, horrific, or disturbing news items. No, wait! Don’t go! You’re visiting Moths and Giraffes, where the only negative feelings we have are about ourselves. Wait, ok let me start again.
Isn’t music wonderful? You could be minding your own business (inviting people to send you their songs) and then the most talented and creative people send you their mini-albums bursting with all the tingliest brain-igniting sounds you could pack onto one side of vinyl. I’m talking about ‘LT2’, the new release from Californian duo Left Tracks.
Kabir Kumar and Phil Di Leo are Left Tracks. Image Credit: Ginger Fierstein.
Though occupying the same state in the US, the two members of Left Tracks actually reside 350 miles away from each other - Phil Di Leo hails from Oakland, while Kabir Kumar lives in Los Angeles. Under his artist name DI LEO, Phil assembled a collective of musicians (including Kabir) to release ‘Pre Spring’ in May 2024. The 30-minute LP is described as a ‘collection of songs, sonic group meditations, and voice memos’ and was recorded in just a five-day period in early 2022. More recently, Phil produced and mixed the collaborative Kalinders track ‘River Dogs’ (also featuring Kumar).
Having co-produced a few of the songs from her debut album, in 2023 Kabir contributed to our piece about San Jose artist Pacing, describing her songs as, ‘deceptively complex, the conversational melodies belying densely packed harmonic structures.’ Under his Sun Kin moniker, Kabir released their song-based album ‘Sunset World’ in April 2024 – performing musicians will relate particularly to the track ‘I’m in the Band’. Later that year, Sun Kin completed his ambient collection ‘painting whales’, inspired by Ted Cheeseman’s photograph of an Arnoux’s Beaked Whale breaching near Antarctica.
Meeting in Oakland in 2016, the duo have featured in and around each other’s artistry, but in June 2021 they began recording their debut EP, ‘End Times Hauling’. With further work on the songs completed over the next eighteen months, Left Tracks put out the five-track collection in June 2023, headed up by their debut single ‘Colorways’. Di Leo and Kumar supported the EP with a short Californian tour in July 2023.
Now, Left Tracks are back in 2025, with three new singles leading up to the release of their mini-album ‘LT2’, including the music industry critique ‘I’m Gone’.
On LT2, ‘I’m Gone’ is preceded by ‘Conversation’ – the sound of this band starting up again with clicking dials and whirring synthesizer. ‘Rest is a discipline, this is a Conversation.’ Arriving with the monologue is disjointed lead guitar, and like a handle turning, a distorted beat is wound up and overlayed with break beats, heavenly synth and acoustic guitar. But this conversation is more like an introduction for the listener…
‘Name your price, pay it twice, go outside, stand in line.’
‘I’m Gone’ is formed of a more traditional band ensemble, with electric guitar and drums driving the lyric forward on being unable to opt-out of the music industry tropes that govern artists (Stream ‘I’m Gone’ now on Spotify). With both DI LEO and Sun Kin being producers and multi-instrumentalists, Kabir is behind the drums for this song while Phil is lead vocalist. However, both vocalists blend their voices so well, Left Tracks are the vocal harmony gift that keeps on giving!
In ‘Something From Last Night’ Left Tracks give the impression of a recent memory just out of reach. What happened last night? Drawing on the experimental tendencies of both performers, they layer digital and electronic percussion under a constant and gentle acoustic picking. In harmony, the duo repeat the lyric over and over again, ‘There’s just Something From Last Night…’
‘It’s out of my hands for the next few Business Days!’
The bounce and groove of ‘Business Days’ make it an obvious (but well deserved!) choice for a single and beautifully incorporates the alto and tenor sax playing of Geoff Saba. Geoff mastered their debut EP and appears across the catalogues of both DI LEO and Sun Kin. Lyrically, ‘Business Days’ alludes to the uphill battle of working life and the story of Sisyphus.
‘Bonko’ is a moment to breathe, electric piano working in tandem with field recordings and intermittent jazzy piano, bass and the majick stylings of Geoff Saba. ‘Percolate’ clangs into focus, combining a thumping beat with call and response vocals and an editing collage with snatches of audio including a reprise of the opening monologue in ‘Conversation’. By comparison, ‘Walkin’ My Dog Named Moog’ highlights Left Tracks’ penchant for improvisation, and determination to turn small pieces into vital audio segments.
‘Heart in the weeds, all out to sea, raising my white flag.’
Beginning with a crisp drum beat, ‘Here on the Lawn’ was the first single from this duo’s second chapter. Across this EP, drummer Mark Edwards of Cheekface contributes percussion, while Geoff Saba’s role expands to include bass, guitar and piano in addition to their tenor sax. Lyrically, ‘Here on the Lawn’ is a call back to their child selves to let them know they were right to have the dream. Three verses give way to wailing guitar under a constant jazz rhythm section, devolving to delicate piano and hazy saxophone.
What’s amazing about LT2 is how Left Tracks manage to pack so much movement through style, showcasing what both artists have to offer individually as well as the chemistry they have as a team. Sixteen minutes go by in a flash but you’d swear it was a full-length album. Their choice of collaborators enrich their musical storyboard and even the pacing of LT2 takes the listener on a journey that’s not bumpy, though welcomely falls in the shadow of cloud and trees.
Emerging to play live again earlier in May and June, Left Tracks are celebrating their new music at the Scribble in Los Angeles on September 16th with New Balance and Tam.exe. All proceeds from this show will go to benefit the mental health services provided through Scribble’s therapy programme.
Continue reading for our Q&A with Left Tracks. We ask about their improvisational approach to songwriting, their thoughts on the current state of the music industry, working with Geoff Saba and their upcoming gig at the Scribble. All this and more below!
Image Credit: Ginger Fierstein.
1. The music of Left Tracks is built around improvisational sessions between you both, how do you kick off something like that? Is it a tempo? A pre-conceived idea, a drum loop?
Our music is very generative and sometimes gear-based. A new keyboard or access to a special instrument or recording gear can spontaneously be the impetus. Both of us love to generate creative energy via improvisation, so it feels like a natural approach. On occasion we've arrived with some rough instrumental ideas, but ultimately we rely on our ability to create together in person to guide us from the generative stage to songwriting.
2. How do you know when a piece could become a song? Is there a point where you say, 'this can't be developed beyond this stage'?
We never struggle to create. We both seem to be believers in our ability to find a way to make it work. We both are lucky to have an immense capacity for this. Sometimes one of us will step in and help guide our energy towards something more tangible (which can be very helpful). Otherwise, we'll believe until the very end that a musical idea can keep becoming developed. That is why having some limitations has always been a really great tool for us.
3. As described in 'I'm Gone', the digital side of the music industry feels very rigid especially. Can we ever truly be rid of it? Or is connection via an algorithm mandatory now? What would be your ideal way to connect with fans?
It’s a hard but interesting time to be making music, in a world that's adjusting to new technologies borne by late stage capitalism. We're aware that fighting every battle is impossible so we as creatives must find what hills are worth dying on. Ultimately, our goal is to share our music with as many people as possible and to bring some amount of feeling to people's lives. That is what fuels our ambition to make more. Sometimes the algorithm can feed into that and become unhealthy. So like anything in this age, we are skeptical of these systems.
Our ideal way of connecting with people that like our music is whatever way they're willing to interact with us. We know that people can love our music from anywhere in the world (like how we love artists from all over too) so we're open to whatever way our music brings people together.
4. There's a lot of ambiguity in 'Something From Last Night', what's the one thing you're referring to here?
We created this tune sitting in Phil's bedroom studio saying the phrase back and forth. We no doubt were referring to some mystic feeling of creation from a late night of musical experimentation. We're aware of creativity's fleeting ambition. Sometimes you need to coax it out to see what's really there.
5. Contributions from Geoff Saba on saxophone really enhance a track like 'Business Days'. Had you set out to have Geoff on board from the start or did you see a need to bring in a new musical element to these songs outside of the duo once they were written?
Geoff stepped into our record at the most perfect moment. One amazing part about recording the bones of the record in Oakland was our access to so many talented friends. We're always hunting for that outside influence on our own music. Our project is collaborative in nature so working with someone so dynamic as Geoff Saba is second nature to our process. Geoff always seems to have a hand or influence in our music one way or another.
6. 'Bonko' is gorgeous. What feeling does that track evoke for you?
It feels like a deep stillness and a forced pause. It's an intentional slowdown in a space that otherwise can feel full and chaotic. We need reminders to breathe, eat, and nourish ourselves - this was our way to force a slow down for ourselves and listeners.
7. The sound at the beginning of 'Percolate'...are you playing the guitar strings at the headstock end or have I got that wildly wrong?
In an earlier version of our DAW file, that wav was called Autoharp. Playing an autoharp with a drumstick can really inspire some extended techniques.
8. If you had a dog named Moog, what breed would it be?
It would probably be one of those fluffy doodle combos. Those dogs are extremely smart, and sometimes look uncannily like humans in a dog suit when sitting upright. That eerie ambiguity recalls the way a Moog feels to play, both warm and analog and stiff and digital.
9. You're celebrating the release of 'LT2' with a gig at the Scribble in LA, what will the set-up be for that show? Will it be a duo gig or a full band set? What track are you most looking forward to performing?
We're so lucky to be joined by guest bassist Sam Thorne and drummer Mark 'Echo' Edwards (from Cheekface) so we'll have a full band for our release. Our hearts are so in the weeds on Here On the Lawn. I know we're chomping at the bit for the chance to play that tune with a full four piece. That's got to be the moment we're waiting for the most.
Gig poster by Jeremy Leasure.
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Stream and download the music of Left Tracks on Bandcamp.
Get tickets to see Left Tracks with New Balance and Tam.exe at the Scribble in Los Angeles here.
Follow DI LEO on Instagram @di_leo_music.
Follow Sun Kin on TikTok and Instagram @sun.kin.music, and on Twitter @sunraykin.
Follow Left Tracks on Instagram @left.tracks.
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