Wendy is also a member of indie-rock band Papermaps, contributing additional vocals and keyboards.
Wendy Leung is the voice and songwriter for Toronto band WENDY VERSUS, an energetic reinvention of her journey from vulnerable piano balladry to driving indie-rock to pulsing electropop. The certain darkness inherent both in her voice and songwriting has been the unwavering constant through the sonic evolution.
Wendy embraced music at a remarkably young age, following in the virtuosic footsteps of so many of her nation’s iconic tunesmiths. A background in classical piano and an astute lyrical sensibility marked her formative musical upbringing.
Wendy’s first full-length, A Place To Start (2000), featured the emotional, stripped down outpouring of a solo pianist bearing her soul and finding her voice. This Time (2003), her second self-produced release, saw the introduction of a fuller instrumental scope and the maturing of the artist’s distinct pop sensibility. Through live performance, Wendy and a newly assembled band reworked older arrangements and cultivated a fresh batch of songs in preparation for the next album.
2008′s Stop/Start was recorded at Toronto studio Chemical Sound and with the support of her live band, it included toys and trinkets, sights and sounds borrowed from the backyards of her indie-rock neighbours. At turns warm and poppy or intimate and profound, the album evokes sunny afternoons in the park (Better), drives anthemically (Goodbye) and carries gems of pointed honesty, particularly noted in the title track.
Still, despite the evolution, to Wendy’s ear there remained something missing. With this instinct persisting and her band members moving on to other projects, the spark for what is now WENDY VERSUS was ignited. Craving a sound that was melody and beat-driven, she found new collaborators and together they stripped her songs to their barest form, started with voice and machines, and built everything else around it.
So Wendy Leung is now known as WENDY VERSUS and the band’s debut album, Crayon Wars, is set for release June 2012.