Leisure presented by Goodlive Artists Austria

Auckland’s soul-electronic collective LEISURE announces their new studio album, Welcome To The Mood, will be released on September 12, 2025.

For their fifth studio album, the genre-defying sextet refines their soulful, slow-burning ethos into a radiant new chapter — one rooted in togetherness, creative freedom, and the lived experience of a band evolving with authentic purpose.

A New, Organic Approach

For Welcome To The Mood, LEISURE embraced a more organic, live-recording approach:

“Off the back of touring the last album, we had played more shows than ever and wanted to bring more of the live element into the process, so we didn’t use drum breaks and loops as much as previous records and tracked live.”

They expanded their sonic horizons by bringing in specialist musicians — including string sections, brass, pianos, and backing vocalists — pushing the sound far beyond their individual skill sets. Yet at its heart, the album remains deeply personal.

Written in remote hideaways, the songs reflect the tranquility of escape while expressing a newfound confidence in emotional vulnerability.

Themes and Sonic Vision

Welcome To The Mood is a rich sonic tapestry woven with threads of authenticity, humanity, and creative celebration.

Lyrically, the album explores universal experiences — love, loss, connection, hope, and purpose — all drawn from the everyday but rendered in LEISURE’s signature palette of lush tones and laid-back groove.

The tracks are anchored in realness but elevated by a sound that feels simultaneously nostalgic and futuristic, echoing the ethos of Frank Lloyd Wright, whose Taliesin West served as both a literal and symbolic inspiration for the album’s visual direction.

Fall Tour Announcement

On June 13, tickets go on sale for LEISURE’s European and North American fall tour in support of the album. The tour launches in October with a performance at Austin City Limits Festival and includes stops in:

• New York (Terminal 5)

• Toronto (The Concert Hall)

• Chicago (Vic Theater)

• Los Angeles (The Novo)

• Vancouver (Commodore)

• London (Roadhouse)

• Paris (Bataclan)

• Berlin (Huxley’s)

• and more…

A full list of dates can be found below.

The LEISURE Philosophy

In a world preoccupied with instant gratification and overnight success, LEISURE have taken the scenic route.

The six members — and longtime friends — came together in 2015 on a spontaneous trip up New Zealand’s rugged west coast. At that point, they had each spent years grinding through the pressures of the music industry.

Individually, they are award-winning songwriters, producers, and creatives. Together, they resolved to carve out a new musical paradigm:

Cut the crap. Enjoy the ride. And above all — keep it LEISURE.

Welcome To The Mood follows their acclaimed 2023 album Leisurevision, which received praise from BBC, Rolling Stone, KCRW, and more.

Now with over 530 million streams, appearances at Lollapalooza, M3F, the upcoming ACL Festival, and sold-out headline shows across New Zealand, Australia, the UK, Europe, and the US, LEISURE is clearly doing something right.