The solo project of Melbourne musician and bedroom producer Kieran Stevenson, Leonardo's Robot is an indie act mining the sounds of garage rock and post-punk with psychedelic threads woven into the mix.
With three albums and an EP to his name since 2019, the next chapter for Leonardo's Robot will be the longplayer 'Tower' – an album that explores neoliberalism, fascism, societal upheaval and mental health issues that's set to drop shortly.But first Kieran is teasing 'Tower' with the release of the lead single 'Honey', a track fans of Modest Mouse, Built To Spill and Tropical F... Storm will enjoy.
A lo-fi, DIY soundscape that flirts with rumbling, psych-filled garage rock grooves 'Honey' is a fist-pumping, chaotic ride.
Add stabby, bendy guitar riffs, pounding-clashing drums and boisterous, riotous vocals that evoke a sense of apocalyptic dread and you have what Kieran calls Leonardo's Robot's 'mosh pit anthem'.
"'Honey' was the last song I wrote for the album," Kieran says. "Most of the other tracks are pretty deliberate and ornamented, and I needed something that was relatively stripped back and uptempo to anchor it all.
"I wanted to do something that would take all the anxiety that underpins the record and go to hell with it, to document how everything seems to be falling apart and indulge in the honesty of pessimism – not to brush aside hope, but to be honest about the scope of the problem.
"I try not to give in to doom-saying if I can help it, but every book on the subject says that if you want to fight a demon, then step one is to find out its name."
Ahead of the song's release tomorrow, scenestr is stoked to premiere the music video for 'Honey' today. Enjoy.
The creation of the clip was a DIY project with Kieran writing, filming and editing the entire video.
"What you're seeing in the video is a dude in the midst of a mental health crisis with a $50 budget and zero film-making experience trying to figure out if this is going to come out okay or end up looking unsalvageably dumb.
"It took probably five times as long as it should have, but in the end I think it reflects how anxious and confused, and apocalyptic I wanted the song to feel."
