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Leonard Mynx grew up a half mile from Mark Twain's grave. A half mile past that, an old prison of brick and iron loomed over the headstones and the houses of the town. Its siren marked the hours of the day. During the Civil War, along the river that had served as the life of the town, was the site of the most infamous Union prison camp, or death camp, as it was referred to in Dixie. Once a bucolic and charming little village, in the late twentieth century the town was plagued by floods, prisons and the death of American industry until it rotted and all but died out. It was during this period that Leonard Mynx served his sentence there, until finally, he escaped.

Like Twain, Mynx traveled wide and far and, like Twain, he possessed a penchant for language and storytelling. Leonard Mynx has crisscrossed America and beyond carried by planes, trains, ships, wheels and his own feet. Writing songs along the way about the places and faces he has met, Mynx has a unique ability to bring a listener into the moment and life of a song. With a style that draws from the history of American music and American history in general, Mynx continues the long tradition of communication through song. Shunning the graveyards, prisons and diseases that plague much of present society, the music of Leonard Mynx is a celebration of life. The lessons in death that he has gathered from his hometown and throughout his journeys into the heart of the world, have produced a captivating songwriter, a dying art in itself.

In Portland, Oregon, Leonard Mynx teamed up with fellow journeyman Adam Selzer (Norfolk and Western, M Ward) at his world renown Type Foundry Studio to produce an album of stunning songs. Drawing from the creative minds of Mynx and Selzer, and the abilities of truly incredible musicians, the music of Leonard Mynx has come alive in his first proper album. And so the next chapter begins...

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[DEATH SONGS] I first heard Leonard Mynx at an open-mic night. He played “Mary,” an aching tune about a young girl’s hard-knock life. As he finger-picked his guitar, his voice came out low and calm, like an alt-country Leonard Cohen. “Mary quit school and decided she’d take a train out west,” he began. “She was eager to see some skies beyond her broken home.” It was no shock Mary died at the end of the song. What shocked was Mynx’s delivery: He seemed fascinated by, but also accustomed to, the darkness in his words. On Vesper, Mynx’s solo debut, his hypnotically distant delivery (that familiar reverb is courtesy of M. Ward producer/sideman Adam Selzer) is usually set against material that’s almost comically sad. Everyone in Mynx’s world—including our narrator—has a broken heart, serious addiction or is just plain dead. But Mynx never oversells the material. He makes relentless misery sound pretty damn good—even on a nine-minute, pitch-black song about a brother sent off to war, where Mynx sings: “We used to play guns when we were just kids/ I’d say I hit ’im, he’d say I missed/ I just hope his luck keeps up like this.” It doesn’t, of course. Casey Jarman - Willamette Week

"A story teller of rare talent. One of the best musicians to come on the scene in recent years. No words can do justice to the album 'Vesper'." Giuseppe Marmina - Happy Days Are Here Again - Translated from Italian.

"Arresting and poetic. It is not easy to define what lifts this remarkable debut above those of the great rafts of other young, male singer songwriters influenced by the American storytelling and songwriting traditions, but suffice to say whatever "it" is, Leonard Mynx has in spades. Mynx seems to be creating his own myths around himself and his characters, not unlike a young Dylan. As with Dylan maybe we are not meant to delve too closely into what is fact and what is fiction. It is so hard to make a listener actually listen and to care. Throughout this record Mynx succeeds. Vesper, recorded with M Ward collaborator Adam Selzer, is a remarkably self assured and fulfilling record. 9 out of 10." Jenny Higham - Americana UK

"A small masterwork with delicate arrangements emphasizing the right moment" Eike Klien - Das Klienicum - Translated from German

"Great storytelling. An hurried sound that slowly unfolds over the course of a song." Bob Ham - Oregonian

"Vesper, rings with plaintive authenticity...and makes your mind and heart want more and more" Vagabond Nic - The Neave

"Mynx is...extremely cute" Eugene Register Gaurd

"A singular talent...Mynx crafts elegiac tracks that pull in the influence of folk, blues, country and pop, rolling out tales of desperation, death and heartbreak over slow heartbeat tempos. His brilliant album [Vesper] is a gloomy but enthralling collection of songs." OPB Music

"Leonard Mynx is a singer-songwriter who's also a story teller of a rare breed. Based in Portland, Oregon, Mynx has a talent to enchant his listeners as he leads them through some dark and half familiar paths. Though the songs in his debut LP, Vesper, appear to be sombre and somewhat stark, they also portray a sense of quiet truth and dignity emanating. On some songs the resemblance in style to a young Leonard Cohen is discernible; in others, the darkness issuing the narrated story cloaks Mynx in timelessness. Either way, Vesper tells some sad tales about a forgotten America, now enshrouded by Leonard Mynx's mesmerizing sound." Laughing Evergreens