Released late last year, the haunting song "Valley of Sickness and Death" by Portland-based singer-songwriter Leonard Mynx, puts Mynx's poetic, lyrical prowess front and center as the music builds around a sparse, rolling, acoustic guitar. I was born in a ghost town, the year of the landslide, in a hotel room beside a funeral pyre, he sings. The track opens a debut album, Vesper, which is a simply and beautifully crafted whole. Lyrically and musically, Mynx will inevitably draw comparisons to Leonard Cohen and Bob Dylan, but no matter the genealogy of his material there is no doubt Mynx is onto something singular. He has quickly followed up with a seriously limited edition, self-released sampler, Le Petit Mort, of which only 250 copies have been pressed. It's culled from a collection of 25 songs recorded with his friend Adam Selzer (M. Ward, Norfolk and Western) at Type Foundry studio in Portland. For the sessions "Lots of great and talented Portland musicians helped out" (artists whose other projects include The Decemberists, M. Ward, Horsefeathers, Loch Lomond, Jolie Holland and many more). Le Petit Mort continues his moribund themes, but the songs are far more layered, textured and musically complex. There is a new full length, Son of the Famous So and So due for release in April, but until then here are two tracks from Le Petit Mort.
Download: Leonard Mynx, "Ball of Fire"
Download: Leonard Mynx, "The Bones"