KMA469 Leonard Mynx – Le Petit Mort

Le Petit Mort seems to carry the weight of two full albums’ worth of ideas in its songs. These are odes to finding yourself, to listening to the world around you with clarity, wonder and honesty. Much as Dylan tipped his hat to those before him, Mynx has a poet’s way with words. He acknowledges beauty and despair equally, and he’s unafraid of poking into the darker corners in order to drag things into the light.

The tunes themselves, drawn from wide ranging influences and yet still strongly his own, are deceptively gentle, as though he’s wrapped the blade in a soft cloth. It’s easy to get swept along and tap your feet, but to fully appreciate it you can’t ever forget the sharp edge underneath. Mynx writes about real things, setting to music the things you think in your most introspective moments but have never managed to articulate, and he does it with apparent ease.

To say that I enjoyed this record would be understatement. I definitely thank Leonard for submitting this work, which has the distinction of being the first reader-submitted record we’ve received in our years here at KMA, and it is genuinely fantastic. The bar has been set high, indeed.