Leeni’s 8 Bit Heart

With her sophomore album 8 Bit Heart (celebrated at tonight’s CD-release party), indie darling Leeni ventures from guitar and piano to the chirping computer tones of the original Nintendo Game Boy. For Leeni, exploring a new instrument for her music was the muse for reinventing herself as a songwriter. Why sample the likes of the Super Mario soundtrack? “With the square and triangle oscillator synths for 8-bit music, it was part nostalgia, part tragic adorableness,” Leeni explains. The resulting sound of 8 Bit Heart is a hypnotic mix of happy hardcore and playful industrial, accompanied by entrancing female robot vocals. The real reason for its instant appeal, however, lies in the depths of your amygdala, which no doubt recalls all those snappy, innocent sounds you rocked your thumbs to back in the day while storming Koopa’s castle. What’s the next level for Leeni? “I’m already working on writing my next album, which is also 8-bit, but a slightly different flavor. While 8 Bit Heart is like Mario Bros. meets the Postal Service, my next venture will be like Zelda meets Nine Inch Nails.”