In the zorb with Sycco

It's one of those June days in Los Angeles that features weather so pleasant it's almost boring, and I'm in the bar area of the downtown music venue The Moroccan Lounge, talking to Sasha McLeod, the musician known as Sycco, about the LSD trip that inspired the title of her upcoming album.

"During the pandemic in Brisbane, we would get shut down, and then open up again. The music community all banded together and partied on the weekends as a bit of an escape," she said. "'Zorb' is a term I made sense of while I was on acid. It's so silly, but everyone has their own zorb—it's basically like an energy field. And then when you join another person, and you're on the same wavelength, you're in the same zorb."

An interview where we get to talk about semi-absurd inside jokes about energy fields? This is my lucky day. When I speak with McLeod, they're 1. beating back the fatigue of traveling from Australia to New York (where they performed at the Central Park SummerStage) and then onto L.A., 2. wearing a cool outfit (a silky, soccer jersey-esque top and track pants) and 3. preparing to take the Moroccan Lounge stage for a compact set of old songs and new ones.

When it comes to Sycco's music, "energy field" makes total sense as an aesthetic theme. Her songs draw an appropriately wavy line between pop, rock and dance music, and even the more upbeat tunes radiate an essential, appealing chillness, from the adorable groove of early single "Nicotine," to the sugary stutter-beat of this year's "I'd Love To Tell You." No matter the genre mode, McLeod's easygoing and elastic vocals connect the dots. If there's any throughline to her diverse output, it's a quality that I can't put my finger on, but can definitely feel...smile-inducing? Joy-activating?

McLeod is 22 years old now, but Sycco has been a musical project since their teen years. When I brought up their penchant for psych rock (Sycco is pronounced "psycho," a hat tip to that particular genre), they mentioned a particular high school venture: "I made an album in, like, grade 11, and that was a full psych rock album. But I deleted it off the Internet. It had so many glitches, because I mastered it online." Their breakout moment occurred a few months into Covid-19 with "Dribble," a reverb-y electronic/rock hybrid that ended up as number 29 in the 2020 Triple J Hottest 100, the annual Australian music listener poll that culminates in a huge nationwide radio countdown.

McLeod's visit to this side of the world shows that her pop ambitions extend beyond Australia's borders. "In Australia, they put you in a box, in a way. If you're really big in that territory, they don't really grow with you. And when I'm listening to [an artist] I like, I like growing with them." McLeod has already experienced extraordinary growth in her career even before focusing her sights on America. Since the release of "Dribble," she has collaborated with Flume (on 2022's "Ripple") and opened for artists like Glass Animals and fellow vibe-forward Aussie Tame Impala; it's not hard to imagine that the U.S. success of the latter artist could be a distinct possibility for Sycco.

So what type of energy field will Zorb (the recently-announced first official Sycco LP, out August 23rd) have? It certainly sounds like McLeod experiencing their early twenties during the pandemic—"making connections in a really youthful way"— will shine through. "The whole album is about living in share houses, first-time experiences, first love," they say. When I ask what they hope people get out of the listening experience, they think for a minute before answering. "I hope people can just feel understood in a way. I hope my [musical] environment is something that people can also join in on."

We wrap up our chat—it's time for Sycco's set. The composure she exhibited in our chat transfers easily to the stage, where she runs through her songs with a gentle confidence, switching on and off between electric guitar and a hand-held microphone. At one point McLeod playfully denounces her bandmate's taste in cocktails (he's drinking a whiskey soda...and I agree, we can move that particular combo to trash). Jewel tone stage lights meld with swirly projections that pair perfectly with the music. The vibes? Immaculate. Sycco's zorb is the place to be.

Pre-save Zorb here and check out Sycco's link aggregation.

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