Ley Line, Austin’s multilingual folk fusion group, is proud to announce a new single “Desde Lejos,” is out now. The band, consisting of Kate Robberson, Emilie Basez, and twin sisters Madeleine and Lydia Froncek add this beautiful new song to their celebrated catalog which includes a combined total of over 5 million plays on Spotify and rising. Their critically acclaimed releases have support from NPR, Billboard, Brooklyn Vegan, KUTX, and more.
“Desde Lejos” is a poetic samba describing the metaphoric river of how our good intentions and prayers make their way. The lyrics describe the way our thoughts, as though they ride a current of hope that creates healing Guitarist/vocalist Emilie Basez describes the inspiration to the song stating “’Desde Lejos’ means ‘from afar’ and was initially written by me about a long distance love that I had met in my younger years of traveling. It was a connection that endured oceans apart yet was strong enough to keep circling back around though it was nearly impossible to ever come to fruition.” She adds, “On a trip to Oaxaca, Mexico with a dear friend and exquisite musician, Pedro Morales, we worked on the poetry and song structure and the theme shifted towards a more universal idea: the power of prayer. Soon the song felt more like an innate quality within us all to wish the best for human kind, especially those who have touched our hearts.”
The single was recorded at the Church House in east Austin in 2021. At that time Ley Line’s manager graciously connected them with the renowned producer David Garza, and sound engineer David Boyle. Garza plays rhythm guitar in the track and enhances the chord structure and key of the song to accompany Emilie’s vocal range. Emilie elaborates, “I adore collaborating with musicians who can hear and apply chord inversions and key changes. David really took ‘Desde’ to a new place within just a few minutes which actually inspired me to write the second verse.”
Madeleine Froncek paints the picture of the process stating, “‘Desde Lejos’ is the first samba we have recorded and this recording is specifically important to us because it features so many artists that we deeply respect in our Austin community. This song was the last one we decided to squeeze in on a day packed with recording at Church House Studios with engineer David Boyle and producer, David Garza. We laid down as much of a structure as we could for the song and took advantage of a surprise visit from local jazz legend Ephraim Owens. Ephraim had stopped by with his trumpet and played one take of improvisation with the scratch track Emilie had recorded for the vocals. His contribution was what laid the groundwork for the rest of the production. His trumpet playing transported us to a vintage Brazilian jazz bar and that landscape set a mood for what was to come.”
Madeline concludes the importance of collaboration to make this song come to life, “We took a long break from the recordings before we were ready to move forward and by that time a friendship with the incredible Javier Jara had blossomed. A year after the initial recordings, Javier added the samba guitar part from a home recording session at Emilie’s house. This song is unique in the collaborative and intuitive journey it took to its completion. Emilie was rewriting lyrics moments before recording them with the input of David Garza as he tweaked the guitar and bass parts. Claudio Ramirez contributed to the final version of the backing vocals as the four of us circled around a condenser mic playing random hand percussion without clarity on how it would fit into the final song.”
Catch Ley Line live on June 9th at the Kerrville Folk Festival to hear their new song alongside their classic and new music from their illustrious catalog.
Band Members:
Emilie Basez: Guitar/Vocals
Madeleine Froncek: Upright Bass/Vocals
Kate Robberson: Ukulele/Vocals
Lydia Froncek: Percussion/Vocals
Song Credits:
David Garza – producer, songwriting, intro guitar
David Boyle – sound engineer
Claudio Ramirez – mix, master
Javier Jara – guitar
Ephraim Owens – trumpet
