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[title]Formed in 2015 in Auckland, Leisure is a six-piece group that has been building one of the most recognizable sonic universes in contemporary soul-pop. Blending laid-back funk, warm electronic textures, and nostalgic melodies, the New Zealand collective is coming to Argentina for the first time to perform on Sunday, May 17 at C Art Media.
Ahead of the show, we spoke with Jaden Parks — rhythm guitar —, Tom Young — bass — and Josh Fountain — keyboards and synthesizers — about the band’s creative dynamic, the search behind their latest album Welcome To The Mood, and what it’s like building a global audience from New Zealand.
It’s your first time in Buenos Aires. What are you expecting from this trip?
Jaden: Yes, it’s our first time coming this far south in South America, so we’re incredibly excited. We’ve been looking forward to this trip for a very long time.
Your music feels very intimate and relaxed, but it also works perfectly at festivals and on large stages. When you’re writing songs, do you imagine someone listening alone on headphones, or do you think more about a collective live experience?
Tom: Yeah, I think we move through that whole range of emotions when we write. Some songs naturally lean more into that intimate, loving atmosphere. Then there are moments where we think, “This could really work at a festival, with all that energy.” So yes, Leisure has always revolved around love songs with a lot of energy, however that ends up expressing itself live.
Jaden: A lot of the time when we’re making music, we’re all together having fun and creating. I think that’s where the energy people feel at our shows comes from — enjoying it with other people, whether that’s friends or partners.
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What kind of atmosphere are you trying to create on this tour?
Jaden: We want people to come, forget about everything else for a while, and simply enjoy themselves. Sing, connect with other people, have a good time. That’s always our goal: creating a space where everyone can feel good together.
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Leisure has six members, which sounds like something that could either be very inspiring or pretty chaotic. How does the band’s creative process work?
Josh: Surprisingly, it works in a very natural way. We’re all constantly creating things separately and sending ideas to each other, because we also have families and lives outside the band. But whenever we can get together in a room, that’s usually when the best things happen. Over the years, we’ve developed really strong creative chemistry. Everyone feels comfortable throwing ideas around without too much judgment, and that keeps everything moving forward. That’s the beauty of Leisure.
Tom: We also all come from different musical backgrounds. Everyone grew up listening to different things, so when all those influences come together, somehow that unique Leisure sound emerges.
What are those influences?
Tom: For me, a lot of ‘70s and ‘80s music. By 2026, so many ideas have already been explored that sometimes the best source of inspiration is looking backwards. And then some of the guys are much more into psychedelic music, so it becomes this whirlwind of influences.
Jaden: We always try to make music that feels timeless and doesn’t age too quickly. There’s a lot of inspiration from classic songwriters like Carole King or The Beatles, but there are also psychedelic influences and many other things mixed in. It’s a pretty eclectic combination.
On your latest album, Welcome To The Mood, you moved toward a more organic sound, with more live instruments, strings, and backing vocals. How conscious was that shift?
Josh: After every album we start thinking about what comes next, and this time we wanted the record to sound like a band playing together. We wanted songs that we could naturally perform live. A lot of the recordings started with all of us playing together in the studio, and then we added production details afterward. It took us a while to find the album’s sonic identity, but once it appeared, everything started making sense.
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Jaden: We’d also started playing live much more often, so we were spending a lot more time performing together. I think we wanted the recordings to reflect that chemistry and the connection we’d been building with audiences.
What kind of sound are you searching for now?
Jaden: Honestly, we’re still figuring that out. We never begin with a rigid idea of how something should sound. We get together, write music, talk, spend time with each other, and eventually a spark appears. It can be a lyric, a feeling… and from there we slowly start developing everything.
Over time, Leisure built a large fanbase. Was that growth gradual, or was there a moment when you realized the band had become something much bigger?
Tom: It was definitely gradual. When we started nearly ten years ago, we didn’t even think of Leisure as a “serious” band. We were just making songs together in New Zealand because we enjoyed it. So even today, it still feels surreal to travel around the world and play these shows. We’re constantly meeting people who are discovering the band for the first time.
“You can see streaming numbers online, but it doesn’t feel real until you arrive somewhere and there’s a crowd waiting to see you play”
Jaden: We’ve always tried to focus on the music and the creative universe around it instead of getting distracted by other things. I think that patience helped us build a real connection with people over time. Traveling and meeting different audiences also feeds back into the music. Experiences like this trip eventually show up again in the creative process.
What’s it like building an international fanbase while living in New Zealand, a place that often feels very isolated from the rest of the world?
Josh: Honestly, that’s one of the craziest things for us. You can see streaming numbers online, but it doesn’t truly feel real until you arrive somewhere and there are all these people waiting to see you play. Every time it happens, I have the same reaction: what are all these people doing here? [laughs]. Even now it still surprises us. We’re so far away from everything in New Zealand, so being able to travel and connect with people from different parts of the world through music is something really special.
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To wrap up: any message for Argentine fans before the show?
Jaden: We can’t wait to see you. We’re huge football fans, so we’re really excited to be in this part of the world. And we’re going to put on an amazing show. See you very soon.