LANY

LANY came together in Los Angeles in 2014 around singer Paul Klein, drummer Jake Goss and multi-instrumentalist Les Priest, the last two having played together in Nashville, under the name WRLDS, before the three met. Klein flew out to see them, and within weeks the project began uploading songs anonymously to SoundCloud, keeping it separate from his earlier solo work.

The band settled on the name LANY, an acronym for Los Angeles and New York, after early SoundCloud tracks drew label interest within days. Their debut EP, Acronyms, carried 'ILYSB,' which passed 100,000 plays online before the members' identities were even public. The early run of EPs circulated the same way until the self-titled debut album arrived in 2017 through Polydor.

Klein writes almost entirely about relationships in progress or in collapse, delivered in a close, conversational register over synth pads and clean guitar. Malibu Nights, released in 2018 after a breakup, is the starkest of the records, with the title track built around piano.

'ILYSB' and 'Super Far' both earned RIAA certification, and later singles added outside voices, including 'Okay' with Julia Michaels and 'Mean It' with Lauv, both from 2019. Mama's Boy arrived in 2020 and gg bb xx in 2021, still through Polydor and Interscope, before the band moved to its own imprint, Sunset Records, for 2023's A Beautiful Blur and 2025's Soft. 'Super Far' and 'Thick and Thin' remain fixtures of the live set.