Leisha Thomas’s first Alpha Maid EP Spy was released in 2019 by the London collective CURL. After graduating from Goldsmiths, University of London in 2014, Thomas began playing with fellow music graduate Ben Vince, who introduced her to the collective, which also included Mica Levi, Coby Sey and Brother May. “It felt nice to find some weirdos to be around after finishing uni, you know?” she tells Claire Biddles in The Wire 502. Her next EP CHUCKLE was released in 2021 by fellow London label-cum-collective CANVAS, founded by Olan Monk and Lugh O'Neill. Her latest release, Is this a queue, was released on AD 93 at the end of 2025.

CURL
“1st Memory (excerpt)”

This is a release from a show where George Finlay Ramsay and I were guests on a CURL live show with Brother May, Coby Sey and Mica Levi. We went on to do quite a few shows in this formation over a couple of years but this was an early one – though I’m not sure for certain where or the year. It remains a really sweet memory.

Spresso/Alpha Maid/Mica Levi
“plasticine”
From Spresso
Self-released (2023)

This track is from the Spresso self-titled EP, which was before we decided to name the band Spresso. Writing this EP happened at the same time as Mica and I became standalone friends so in particular it's a special record to me for that. The lyrics are loosely based around acknowledging overwhelm but also not being that bothered and accepting a flop. Adding the shaker was swag.

Alpha Maid featuring Coby Sey & Ben Vince
“Palimpsest”
From Is this a queue
AD 93 (2025)

The instrumental for “Palimpsest” came about when me and Ben Vince met up for a jam in the peak of one of the Covid grips after not seeing each other for a while. The tightening and the squeeze and ‘clinging on’ came out in our playing – it was very cathartic to play music with Ben at this time. The drum beat came after, so you can imagine how the jam sounded without. It took some detachment from that initial state we were in to finish off the track. Coby's vocals gave it a fresh energy but he was able to relate it back to the original essence.

Alpha Maid
“Strut In Straddle”
From Is this a queue
AD 93 (2025)

This track uses a chopped up recording of a van for the bass sounds. This van drives past my flat pretty often, and has one of loudest sound systems I’ve heard in a vehicle. You can hear it approaching from a while away, and when it drives past I always admire how someone is even inside.

Coby Sey
“Onus”
From Conduit
AD 93 (2022)

This is from Coby Sey’s debut album Conduit, and one of my favourites to play live within Coby's live formation. “Onus” displays so well a sincerity and awareness in his lyricism that open the music to a wider conversation and connect it to the big picture. Signature textures by Coby during the outro take the listener somewhere else entirely.

Alpha Maid's Is this is a queue was number 30 in The Wire's 2025 Top 50 Releases of the Year chart. The full chart appears in issue 503/504. Pick up a copy of the issue in the online shop. Subscribers can read the chart in the digital archive.