LEILA ABDUL-RAUF: “Eros Anima” From Vastum Member’s Dark Ambient/Ritual Folk Solo Endeavor Now Playing; Sixth Solo Album, Andros Insidium, Nears April 17th Release On 20 Buck Spin

photo by Samuel Foster

“Eros Anima” is the entrancing new song from multi-instrumentalist LEILA ABDUL-RAUF, now streaming everywhere ahead of her sixth solo LP, Andros Insidium, nearing its April release on 20 Buck Spin.

Through her work across five Vastum albums, LEILA ABDUL-RAUF has been a sonorous contributor to 20 Buck Spin’s discography for more than fifteen years now. Concurrently, she has amassed an impressive body of solo work whereby she could showcase the full range of her multi-instrumental artistic and vocal talents. 20 Buck Spin now welcomes that part of her output to the label, showcasing her darkest and most confrontational material to date with Andros Insidium.

On Andros Insidium, LEILA ABDUL-RAUF draws us into a ceremonial descent, through the architecture of shadow itself. Unfolding like a ritual text etched in obsidian, each movement traces the violent and sacred geometry of transformation. The presence and wisdom of the feminine divine looms throughout, as an ancient and uncompromising force, in conflict with everything buried, exiled and made monstrous by the machinery of societal pressures and unrealistic expectations. The album delves deep into the dark vastness of the psyche of woman: wild, ugly, vulnerable, and powerful.

Sonically, Andros Insidium is a mutation of the cinematic dark ambient, industrial, and ritual folk expressed in prior releases, now sharpened into something far darker, more narrative, and intimate. ABDUL-RAUF’s vocal work becomes a new focus with a wider variety of styles and characters, exorcising the demons of patriarchal fragmentation and revenge fantasy as lived myth. In its most potent moments, Andros Insidium suggests that wholeness is not purity or light, but the terrifying act of reclaiming everything that was discarded, learning to speak with its voice.

Composed, recorded, and performed by LEILA ABDUL-RAUF, Andros Insidium features guest contributions from Samuel Foster (ex-Saros, ex-Weakling), Kienan Hamilton (Cartilage, False Figure), Gregory C. Hagan (ex-Common Eider, King Eider, ex-Thomas Carnacki), and Drew Zercoe (Field Of Fear), adding to the album’s intense sound. Andros Insidium was mixed and mastered by Greg Wilkinson at Earhammer Studios (High On Fire, Autopsy, Vastum), with cover art by Justyna Koziczak, layout by Chimere Noire, photography by Samuel Foster, and calligraphy by Gregory C. Hagan. Anybody who enjoys the works of Dead Can Dance, Diamanda Galas, Arcana, Amber Asylum, Jarboe/Swans, and Chelsea Wolfe, make LEILA ABDUL-RAUF’s Andros Insidium a priority album to hear.

With the new single, “Eros Anima,” she reveals, “Much of the album conceptually is inspired by the Sumerian myth of Inanna and Ereshkegal. The lyrics for this song describe the incestuous dance of the two goddesses in the underworld, free to roam in the darkness and explore their innermost desires away from the gaze of male dominance. Kienan Hamilton’s lute performances and Sam Foster’s percussion and bell contributions took the song to another level. It’s the most cinematically epic track on the album and one of my personal faves.”

Listen to LEILA ABDUL-RAUF’s “Eros Anima” everywhere, including YouTube HERE and Bandcamp HERE.

Andros Insidium will be released on LP, CD, and digital formats on April 17th. Preorders are available at the 20 Buck Spin webshop HERE and Bandcamp HERE. If you missed it, watch the incredible video for “Andros Insidium” HERE.

Live performances in support of the album are currently being booked, including a set at Stanford Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics on June 11th which will be livestreamed on the CCRMA website. Additional shows will be announced shortly.

LEILA ABDUL-RAUF Live:
6/11/2026 An Evening With LEILA ABDUL-RAUF @ Stanford CCRMA – Stanford, CA