Leonard Mynx – Le Petit Mort

contributor: Ed Thanhouser, January 25, 2010

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Le Petit Mort, “the little death,” otherwise known as the orgasm, is now also a self-released album from raspy troubadour, Leonard Mynx. Ecstasy and death have always been intimately acquainted, and Mynx skillfully intertwines these two themes during the course of 8 tracks plucked from the sessions for his upcoming LP, Son of the Famous So-and-So. Mynx has always been something of an enigmatic presence in Portland music. On first listen, his songs, though masterfully executed, often appear to be simply shiny, well-constructed pop and folk tunes. In short, pleasant but innocuous. Listen a second time, however, and you start to detect a seething, crumbling despair bubbling over the sides of each track. Mynx’s deadpan flat delivery wants to whisper each word in your ear like a 2 am crack dealer, appearing just over one shoulder, hurriedly offering a fix. And true to the simile, once you start catching those nearly-swallowed lyrics, you’re as hooked as any crackhead. “Miss You,” a haunting duet with Catherine Odell, nearly brings me to tears every time when Mynx sighs, “…I would just run again/but lately my legs aren’t working so well/and I feel like hell/can’t you tell/that I’ve grown old… and I regret the things I didn’t do/’cause I miss you.” By the same token, “Jamaican Song,” with it’s jaunty, upbeat bassline and sunny melody, tells the tale of a man helplessly watching his lover sink into alienated depression. Misery, lonesomeness, broken-down blues and plain old sadness- these are Mynx’s bread and butter, and even in a mere 8 tracks, we have here a veritable feast.

Musically, Mynx is a considerable talent, and one hell of a guitar player. His band and guests are likewise gifted. It’s something of a pity, then, that musically, Mynx’s composition on Le Petit Mort tends to be more backdrop than centerpiece. Mynx’s musical influences are sometimes so plainly visible that they often feel like he’s simply replaced the lyrics of a classic with his own. To illustrate, try singing “I rolled into Nazareth, I was feelin’ bout a half-past dead…” over the opening lines of “Sing Radio.” Mynx’s track may be a beautiful song with fine lyrics, but the resemblance to The Band’s hit is uncanny. Likewise, “Bones,” with its fabulously drunken horn section, feels something like a trussed up Tom Waits cover… replete with carny characters and villains like “Mustache Pete” and “The Chairman.” But perhaps the most obvious example is “Song With No Name,” which you might actually mistake for a Dylan track someday with your iPod on shuffle. So is all this a bad thing? Hardly. For all it’s obvious references, Le Petit Mort ends up feeling comfortable and familiar rather than plagiarized or stale. It helps that the record is recorded beautifully. The time Mynx has spent at Type Foundry with renowned producer/musician Adam Selzer has been well spent indeed. Especially when compared to his last release, 2008’s Vesper, it’s clear that Mynx’s songwriting has come a long way in a short time. And if these songs are an indication of what Son of the Famous So-and-So will sound like, we can expect some truly great things from Leonard Mynx.

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