Bar Laika presents Playback 0034 with Lesley Mok

Lesley Mok is a New York City-based percussionist and sound artist. Their work is guided by a continual search for the connection between the mundane and the divine, the experience and manipulation of time, and a desire to capture emotional dissonance and complexity. Lesley is inspired by American experimental music as informed by the lineage of the AACM, sounds and textures from the natural environment, Afro-Cuban folkloric traditions, drumline, and songwriters and composers like Arthur Russell and Ryuichi Sakamoto.

 

Lesley’s ongoing explorations with composition and improvisation are most notably documented in their debut album The Living Collection (released May 2023 on American Dreams Records). The album, described as “an exquisite and stimulating work” by All About Jazz and “a singularly personal statement” by Jazz Trail Magazine, was named International Debut Album of the Year at the 2024 Deutscher Jazz Preis. Their solo LP transient will be released in July 2026 on American Dreams Records.