Artists You Should Know: Dive Into the Verdant and Glowing Soundscapes of Psych-Pop Duo LANNDS

Los Angeles duo LANNDS have shared a new single from their forthcoming debut album Music for the Future with the release of “Bonfire.” The project of vocalist-guitarist Rania Woodard and multi-instrumentalist Brian Squillace, the two create enigmatic and atmospherically dense psych-pop that’s dually haunting as it is disarmingly beautiful. They will also be playing The Echo in Los Angeles on Apr. 7.

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The two linked up after Woodard — who grew up singing at her church and spent her teens learning blues guitar — started experimenting with synths. Their first single came in 2016 in the form of “Still,” a lush and cavernously sonic track that would become a precursor to further evolutions. Today the duo holds multiple EPs, including the longer nine-track Lotus Deluxe, which cemented their ability to absorb an eclectic number of genres into their groovily spacey soundscapes.

But their latest string of releases has signaled further shifts toward much warmer dream-pop punctuated by increasingly ethereal vocalizations by Woodard and melodic dynamism from Squillace. Over the groan of metallic electronica on “Bonfire,” they layer heady beats over frenetic vocalizations. It’s the kind of track you find yourself subtly enthralled by, wave after concussive wave crashing into you before the whole thing descends into a sublimely riveting breakdown of ardent instrumentals.

While on “Blueprint,” Woodard’s stratosphere-piercing cries are threaded through a hypnotic echo of pensive rhythms. “K TOWN,” another track on Music of the Future, loses itself in a kaleidoscopic swirl of otherworldly tones and textures. Then there are the paced but shuddering movements of “Overseas/BACK 2 U,” a track steeped in buoyant longing.