Singer-songwriter Leona Naess made her name in the early 2000s on warm, radiant, lyrically-driven indie rock, earning a wide range of rave reviews. In those years, Naess was living in the historic Chelsea Hotel and had put out three records in quick succession between 2000 and 2003. Naess’ diverse musical past also includes time studying music composition and even singing onstage as a child with her then-stepmother, the legendary Diana Ross.

Midway through making her new album in 2021, Naess read an article detailing the upcoming emergence of Brood X, a family of cicadas due to emerge along the East coast of the United States for the first time since 2004—the same year she’d last released an album. The same year she met her now-husband. The same year her father passed away. And in the intervening years, Naess had lived her own life “underground,” nesting, preparing for motherhood and growing her family. After 17 years, birthed from a kit of remarkable vulnerability, honesty, and strength, Brood X (via MessyNaess Records/distributed through AWAL and co-produced by Max Cooke) is an album of rebirth, reemergence, and rediscovery.

In this episode, we discuss the emergence of a new project after years in the making, the wisdom gleaned from several years in the music industry, keeping your art and work honest, and the merging and balance of work, motherhood and real life.