At 20 years of age and with an album and two Eps under his belt as well as another album on the horizon, Kiran Leonard is firmly on the radar as The Guardian, The Quiet Us and Drowned In Sound have all sat up and taken careful notice. He’s a prodigiously talented guitarist and performer with a fertile imagination, on a mission to play his music as passionately and truthfully as he possibly can. It’s very encouraging to see him selling out The Albert on a wet midweek January night, too.
 
Leonard and his band launch into forthcoming release, “Pink Fruit”, a 16 minute opus that channels Slint and A Minor Forest with razor-sharp guitar heroics and sliding, gliding tempos and a dreamy mood shift that could be the love child of Tim Buckley and John Martyn. The music skirts between dissonance and sweet melody, creating an irresistible tension. Leonard himself is a throb of energy, constantly shuffling and contorting as he feels every accent and re-lives every lyric – there are no half measures in anything he does.
 
The more the gig progresses, the more Leonard’s influences reveal themselves. His second song expertly combines intricate interweaving dark riffs and changes of pace (in a similar fashion to a “Holy Bible”-era Manic Street Preachers), and it’s hard not to make favourable comparisons between Leonard and Dirty Projectors’ David Longstreth with their virtuoso off-kilter guitar skills and impassioned vocals.
 
“Don’t Make Friends With Good People” is another epic, clocking in at 8 minutes with dislocated riffs, explosions of primal drums and rest bites of ornate guitar breakdowns. “Exeter Services” is very close to straight hardcore and but no less electrifying. The band conclude the set with a frantic closer built around unstoppable drums and a refreshing interlude of fiddle before lifting off into a satisfying clattering, shattering climax.
 
The audience is treated to 2 encores with just Leonard and his guitar. “Kindlier Hearts or a Dearer Ground” winds around corner after corner of unexpected chord changes, trills and mini push–and-pulls. Without the band’s volume behind him, you can hear every detail, every twang and fret buzz, and the honesty in his voice awash with its micro imperfections. It couldn’t feel more real and engaging.
 
“Working People” is saved until last – a gem of a song, full of melody, tenderness and maturity. It’s hard to believe that Leonard released this song last year, when he was 19. Of course, age isn’t important, and I’m sure Leonard himself must be tired of references to his tender years, but it is hard to escape the obvious – how can someone so young be so good?
 
His new album, “Grapefruit” is out on the 25th March on Moshi Moshi Records.
Adam Atkins