New York, NY (Top40 Charts) Profoundly admired songwriter and singer Kieran Leonard is set to return with the release of his new single 'The Greatest Show on Earth' out on 25th December on 1-2-3-4 Records. Recorded at iconic film director Stanley Kubrick's estate, 'The Greatest Show on Earth' is a 15 minute long testament to not just the genius but the valor of Leonard. "It began as an improvised idea and the whole 15 minute track was recorded in one complete take, totally live. It was stream of conscious explosion, a sort of cardiac truth attack." says Leonard.
Having spent a childhood living between Ireland, USA and London, Kieran was influenced by a myriad of writers and painters as well as Bob Dylan, The
Beatles and Radiohead. His debut album 'Out of Work Astronaut' was voted one of the BBC's Albums of the Year in 2012 and the first single from his last album 'Underwood Milk', played regularly by tastemaker KCRW radio, was picked as one of their 'Hottest Tracks'. Kieran has also grabbed the attention of NME, The Huffington Post, Daily Mirror and more. Leonard's first ever single 'Jerusalem' was also used in the soundtrack to Ridley Scott's film 'Life in a Day' and he went on to compose songs for the Universal blockbuster 'Get Him to the Greek' starring Russell Brand. This affirms the diversity of his gift as a songsmith.
Leonard's journey has taken him to share the stage with such stalwarts as Bob Dylan, The
Strokes and Beck as well as a US tour with
Wolfmother and UK and European tours with The Libertines,
Ryan Adams and Father John Misty. Leonard's music spurns the concept of genre categorisation, choosing to pen about an extraordinarily wide range of subjects with a humour and understanding virtually unheard of in the current climate.
This Autumn included taking his live show to the churches of London, most recently St John's Hoxton and he also performed at St Martin-in-the-Field. To launch the release of 'Greatest Show on Earth', a 15 minute protest song, Leonard and his band played a 3 day Situationist event at Newspeak House art gallery in East London. The event featured nightly performances of the song to both invited and passing audiences. Also an integrated art installation drawing on elements of the song lyric, with the intention of pinpointing the subject matter of the song lyrics and its biting social comment in detail.
'Greatest Show on Earth' is set to be released on Christmas Day via on digital download and limited edition Cassette.
"Looks like Kurt Cobain, sounds like Bob Dylan" - NME
"Hot new artist - Out Of Work Astronaut - Definitely worth a listen!" - Daily Mirror
"Brilliant, my album of the year and I don't think it will be toppled… It's a great, great record" - BBC
Radio London
"The musical bastard love-child of Beckett, Orwell and Ted Hughes" - The Huffington Post
