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Get To Know: Leyma

Any Loyle Carner or Tom Misch fans around? If you love either of them, you need to get listening to this week’s MTV PUSH Get To Know artist, Leyma now!

East-Londoner Max Hanley aka, Leyma, is making hip-hop, R&B, and indie-fused music to create his own unique sound, and we love it! The self-produced artist is pushing the boundaries on conventional genres, bleeding into different sounds and pairing this with worldly lyrics about youth culture today.

With his biggest influences including Tame Impala frontman Kevin Parker, Tyler, The Creator and Mac Miller, Leyma’s relaxed music is the perfect ‘Sunday hangover remedy’ and we spoke to him about how he got started and what’s to come…

Get To Know Leyma
Get To Know Leyma

1) For those who don’t know about you and your music, tell us a little bit about who you are and where you’re from…

I’m Max Hanley. I’m from East London and I’m 19 years old. I’ve been producing and writing music for just over three years under the alias (Leyma).

2) Describe your sound in three words…

Friday,Sunday soundtrack.

3) Who inspired you to start a career in music?

I’m not sure I ever sat down and said ‘I want a career in music’ to be honest. I just didn’t care fully about anything apart from making music. I think probably age 15 or 16 watching some interviews with Tame Impala, and hearing Kevin Parker say he recorded at home, inspired me to take music seriously.

4) Who are your biggest musical influences?

This answer is always changing, I’m very easily influenced so always depends on what I’m listening to. But I think three bedrocks would be Mac Miller, Kevin Parker and Tyler.

5) Tell us about the writing and recording process for your new single/album…

'Sterling’s finest' started as two separate songs, written from different view points. I had been listening to ‘a day in the life’ a lot. I never fully appreciated the chaos growing up I always found it jarring, but now it’s intensity just absorbs me. I wanted to project that disorder in this song, I was picturing it being a fight scene or something, and the serenity of the second half followed the mayhem, like a slow motion effect.

A few weeks later I wrote ‘been a minute’. It was the beginning of lockdown and I hadn’t seen anyone for a fortnight, so after I had laid the guitar down the lyrics came very quickly. Being away from people you love, everyone’s feeling that disconnect right now, so this song's just encapsulating that feeling.

6) What can we expect from your live shows?

I think it would be fair to say you can expect some lively moments scattered in between some sing-along-in-your-motions moments.

7) What has been your biggest career highlight so far?

Camden Assembly was up there. The whole night felt like some community s**t.

8) Have you met anyone and been totally starstruck?

I met Joe Cole once.

9) What’s on your playlists that people wouldn’t expect?

I’m not sure what people might expect or not expect to be honest. I feel most people listen to a bit of everything, I’m the same. But someone I been listening to a lot of recently is The Style Council.

10) When can we see you live?

Friday 4th September at Omeara is the next headline, few tickets left over on Dice. See you there.

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