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Apr 26, 2023 By Caleb Campbell Photography by Jacob Boll

Late next month, LA-based singer/songwriter and guitarist Leeann Skoda is set to share her new EP entitled Living Room Sessions. Skoda debuted in 2018 with her alt country effort, Call Me Back Home, before going in a more indie folk direction in her 2021 EP, Lucky Penny. In the intervening years, she has also fallen into a collaborative mode, backing up Noah Cyrus on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, touring with Psychic Temple, and playing with Brian Bell of Weezer.

Her forthcoming EP is born from these types of collaborations. Skoda recorded the EP to tape in a single afternoon, playing from the living room of her collaborator Malachi DeLorenzo and joined by her friends Dylan Rodrigue and Sie Sie Benhoff on backing vocals. As Skoda explains, “We played these gigs together, and I just loved singing with them so much. Dylan is the best person to bounce ideas off of and collaborate with and Sie Sie is the best singer I’ve ever heard. She’s a great performer. We’ve sung together at her shows and on her records and vice versa. I really wanted to just capture this moment that felt so special, even if it was just for myself.”

The full EP is out on May 26th and Skoda has already shared one of the three tracks, a cover of Mariah Carey’s “Can’t Let Go.” Today, she’s back with a reimagining of one of her own songs, “Little Star,” premiering with Under the Radar.

Skoda first shared “Little Star” in 2021 as a part of her Lucky Penny EP. That track found Skoda’s vocals encased in a pastoral swirl of strings, percussion, and keys, steadily ascending into a dreamy instrumental reverie. In contrast, this version of “Little Star” is unwaveringly intimate, stripping the instrumentation back and leaving only Skoda’s guitar and the gorgeous three-part harmonies from Skoda, Rodrigue, and Benhoff. The vocals are front and center, offering a golden-hued companion to the track’s warmhearted lyrics. In this mode, the simple beauty of Skoda’s songwriting truly gets to shine, with the union of the trio’s voices bringing out an indelibly raw and wistful quality.

Skoda says of the track, “When I first wrote this song, I didn’t think much of it, honestly. The lyrics and chords are very simple and it’s one of those tunes that just wrote itself. When I played it for friends, I was surprised how strongly people responded to it, and I realized it was special because it connects with people. I like to think of it as an existential lullaby.”

Check out the song below. The Living Room Sessions EP is out everywhere on May 26th.