Leya

It’s probably unfair that we tend to think of the harp as a lilting, sweet-sounding instrument. After all, when you picture heaven, there are usually harps. Luckily, New York City duo LEYA has come along to shatter that association with their debut album The Fool. Harpist Marilu Donovan and violinist Adam Markiewicz (of The Dreebs) work as a two-person string section with a knack for dissonant, even nightmarish, tones. On the other hand, they don’t exactly shy away from ear-pleasing beauty. Donovan’s strums can be as melodious as you’d expect to hear from a harp. When LEYA does use vocals, the duo’s spacious, reverb-rich sound takes on the exultant ambience of sacred choral music. And the two play mostly in a weightless cadence that is for all intents and purposes devoid of rhythm — and easily lends itself to meditative trance states. When they de-tune their strings, for instance, you might immediately recall the way horror film composers have made your skin crawl, but LEYA evokes a fuller, more dynamic range of moods, where the polar opposition between ugliness and beauty, serenity and woe simply melts away. SABY REYES-KULKARNI