walking upstream…
LANY
sourcesWikipedia2 · NYLON · Esquire Philippines · VOI
LANY began in March 2014 when Tulsa-raised singer Paul Klein flew to Nashville to reconnect with Belmont University friends Jake Goss and Les Priest, the trio quietly posting synth-laced breakup songs to SoundCloud before 'ILYSB' turned heads industry-wide. Klein's thirteen years of classical piano training and a former worship leader's ear for plainspoken devotion collided with drum-machine pulses and close-mic'd falsetto to define the band's sound: intimate, neon-lit pop built as much for headphones as arenas. 'LANY' (2017) and 'Malibu Nights' (2018) cemented them as a streaming-era archetype — vulnerable, hooky, endlessly quotable — before Priest's 2022 departure left Klein and Goss to carry the project on through 'gg bb xx,' 'A Beautiful Blur,' and 'Soft.'
the sound in question
2015
ILYSBLANY
walk the tributaries ↓
John Mayer2000s · Pop rock / Blues / Blues rock
LANY opened seven dates of John Mayer's The Search for Everything Tour in 2017, and Klein has repeatedly named Mayer a formative influence — he still owns a guitar Mayer gave him, one of the few possessions he grabbed while evacuating a 2025 Los Angeles wildfire. The imprint shows up as an unhurried, conversational vocal delivery riding over warm, uncomplicated guitar chords rather than synths.
listen: upstream & heresource: Interview Magazine ↗
2006
Waiting on the World to ChangeJohn Mayer
2020
Cowboy in LALANY
listen forCompare 'Waiting on the World to Change' with 'Cowboy in LA' — both let a laid-back guitar figure and a plainspoken, almost-spoken vocal carry a mid-tempo groove without ever raising its voice.
The 19752010s · Pop rock / Synth-pop / Art pop
Klein has called Matt Healy his 'personal Jesus' in interviews, explaining flatly, 'He just gets it' — and journalists have long summed up LANY's whole aesthetic as what happens 'if The 1975 and Frank Ocean had a sleepover.' The debt shows up as a shared production language: gated drum machines, glassy synth pads, and a breathy, close-mic'd vocal that treats heartbreak as something to whisper rather than belt.
listen: upstream & here
2013
ChocolateThe 1975
2018
Malibu NightsLANY
listen forPlay 'Chocolate' against 'Malibu Nights' — both ride a mid-tempo drum-machine strut under a hazy synth wash, the vocal sitting so close to the mic it feels like a confession rather than a performance.
Coldplay2000s · Alternative rock / Pop rock / Post-Britpop
Klein has said Chris Martin 'was the first person who made piano cool' to him back when he was competing in classical piano competitions as a teenager, and later called Martin 'one of the greatest frontmen alive,' someone with 'so much to learn from.' That reverence surfaces whenever LANY strips back to just piano and voice, building a plainspoken lyric into a swelling, arena-sized chorus.
listen: upstream & heresource: Interview Magazine ↗
2002
ClocksColdplay
2018
Thru These TearsLANY
listen forSet 'Clocks' beside 'Thru These Tears' — both let a simple, repeating piano figure carry the entire arrangement, the vocal arriving almost conversationally before the song opens up into something enormous.