[dropcap]V[/dropcap]ivian Leva and Riley Calcagno capture both the joy and loneliness of shared moments between a couple in a long distance relationship on the bittersweet "Leaving On Our Minds," the latest release from the duo's fothcoming album Vivian Leva & Riley Calcagno (out March 12 via Free Dirt Records).
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Leva says she starting writing the song when she found herself alone in Portland after a whirlwind week.
"I started this song in the early hours of a Sunday morning in a lonesome airbnb in Portland, OR. I remember how empty the place sounded and felt," Leva tells Wide Open Country. "A wonderful week filled with joy and music ended with me sitting alone in an echoey room on a stranger's futon. It was there that I wrote the first lines, 'How could I have known that it'd be like this, just me sitting in this empty house alone?' This song became a recognition of the inevitable hard moments of long-distance relationships. It's about all the joy and sorrow that gets wrapped up into each brief visit: loving one another, but always having leaving on your mind. I sent the verses I wrote to Riley over voice memo and we finished the chorus together from afar. It seemed natural for us to write a song about withstanding distance in love in the style of the country and honky tonk music we both love to listen to and play."
Listen to "Leaving On Our Minds" below.
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Both Leva and Calcagno have Appalachian roots music in their blood. The duo has parents in the old time music scene and grew up around music festival campgrounds.
Leva explains that much of the album was written by the duo while attending different universities on opposite sides of the country.
"We would try to write music in these little spare moments," Leva says in a press release. "It's so hard to communicate with someone over the phone. A song is a place that you can map out how you're feeling and how you want to share your feelings."
Leva previously released Time Is Everything in 2018.
For more information on Vivian Leva and Riley Calcagno, visit their official website.
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