LEISURE

Formed in Auckland in the mid-2010s, New Zealand quintet Leisure fuses 1970s funk, 1990s trip-hop and downtempo, and 2000s electronic music into a slinky cool soundtrack suited to hip lounges and bedrooms alike. Jaden Parkes, formerly of pop-punk band Goodnight Nurse, and Jordan Arts, formerly of pop duo Kids of 88, assembled the lineup alongside Tom Young, Djeisan Suskov, and Josh Fountain. The group debuted with the 2015 single “Got It Bad,” then followed with “Hot Love” and “Take It to the Top,” three seductive groovers that recalled the throwback spirits of Tame Impala and Mark Ronson. Those tracks appeared on the self-titled first album, Leisure, which arrived in 2016, reached number two on the New Zealand charts, and proved a critical and commercial success, prompting a deal with Nettwerk. The label subsequently released singles including 2017’s “Alone Together” and “Money” plus 2018’s “Feeling Free” and “Falling.” After issuing additional dance-friendly singles in the first half of 2019, the band delivered its sophomore album, Twister, that July.

Moving into the next decade, Leisure opened a new chapter with the slinky R&B-indebted Side A EP, a five-song collection written during a trip to France and thematically concerned with new beginnings. Its companion piece, Side B, followed in 2021; Nettwerk later combined the two EPs and added a couple of extra tracks to form the third album, Sunsetter, released later that year. Emerging from the lockdowns of the early pandemic era, the group drew inspiration for songs that captured renewal, growth, and the chaos and joy of the human experience. Taking cues from blue-eyed soul, post-disco ’80s, hip-hop beats, and myriad other styles, the band released its vivid fourth album, the ambitious and engaging Leisurevision, in September 2023.