Premiere: Byland Shares New Single 'Lean In'

Premiere: Byland Shares New Single 'Lean In'

The upcoming sophomore LP Heavy for a while Releases March 29

January 11, 2024

By Caleb Campbell

Photo by @alohaburnframes

Byland is the brainchild of Seattle singer/songwriter Alie Renee Byland, in collaboration with her partner and husband, Jake Byland. Byland first appeared in 2018 Desert Days and followed in 2020 with her debut full-length, Gray, a record that followed as he carefully shaped the style of atmospheric, widescreen indie rock. She will follow up later this year with her upcoming sophomore album, Heavy for a while. He shared a handful of new singles from the album last year, and today he's back with another new track, “Lean In,” premiering on Under the Radar.

“Lean In” begins in a sparse and simmering fashion, with Byland's vocals accompanied only by an effortless percussive beat. As the song unfolds, it becomes steadily more tense and atmospheric, weaving in creepy guitars, shadowy multitracked vocals and towering drums. This tension builds and builds with no release, its final moments capturing Byland caught in a whirlwind of fevered instrumentals before settling into silence. The results are dark and magnetic, but also deeply moving. Byland's lyrics explore the frustration and disappointment of being left on the outside looking in, searching for acceptance but constantly being rejected on the precipice.

Alie says of the track, “My vocal is dry and closed at the beginning of this song, before it opens up into an echo, a voice in the void. It's a moment that I think many can relate to, in some way, with the pain of chasing success in this world when you think you know what it looks like. We wrote it after we were rejected by a radio station in the city we idealized and thought was the only way to reach the world with our art. Really, there's always a way if that's what we really want, but it always costs something. I still weigh that cost all the time, writing this song as a thirty-one year old who is tired but determined. At its best, this is my 'chip on the shoulder' / 'fuck the gatekeepers' anthem, but also an empowering protest against my own gnawing lack of self-esteem.”

Jake continues, explaining: “The song opens with the line, 'I can hear the sound through the walls.' It's about feeling like you're not invited to the party. It's about feeling isolated from success. It's trying to get comfortable with the people you think will get you the door. It's about wanting to fit in. It's a self-satire. But ultimately, it's about making peace with our own light, even though it doesn't shine the way we think it should.”

Check out the track and accompanying live video below. Heavy for a while released everywhere March 29th. You can also check out Byland's upcoming tour dates opening for The Bones of JR Jones below.