Aotearoa/New Zealand-based, electronic maestro and multi instrumentalist Leaping Tiger – the brainchild of Jacob Park, returns today with his first cut of new music since the 2021 release of his anticipated sophomore album, Soulsleep. ‘New Psyche’ out via Park’s self-managed label Extra Sensory Perception (ESP), further cements Leaping Tiger as not only a rising producer but an exceptional vocalist.
On the creation and lyricism behind ‘New Psyche’, Leaping Tiger goes into depth; ‘I wrote ‘New Psyche’ as a successor to my song ‘Gooey’ which was all about jealousy when an ex moves on. ‘New Psyche’ is about the identity crisis that I feel a lot of people have after getting over that Jealousy, you kind of ask yourself ‘who am I without that person’ and ‘what does their new partner possess that I don’t’ but you come to realise that doesn’t even matter and you find yourself again.
With that newly acquired Psyche it almost feels like enlightenment, you can go to a party bump into your ex and just be cool. Even if they’re still acting cold as hell haha.
‘New Psyche’ is about conquering that Identity crisis, remembering who you are, and being completely comfortable with that. In the song, I’m pretty much just listing off the shit that I like that makes me feel like myself; good-smelling sunscreen, the beach, riding bikes, listening to Shibuya-Kei.
This song was written going into Kiwi summer 2021 so it really reflects how I was living, a lot of idyllic beach days and chilling out after a terrible year.
I pretty much just became a beach bum like Jeff Spicoli in ‘Fast Times at Ridgemont High.’ When anyone would ask ‘how are you?’ I kept telling people ‘yea I’m cool, I’m like Jeff Spicoli right now’.