Leon III (pronounced ‘Leon The Third’) is a music project from Richmond, Virginia’s former Wrinkle Neck Mules members Andy Stepanian and Mason Brent.The pair was joined by a passel of collaborative musicians for their debut self-titled album which released last year via Cornelius Chapel Records.

This year has seen the band performing at SXSW and going into the studio and recording at Panoramic House in Stinson Beach, California. While their first album was recorded in Nashville, Leon III re-enlisted Mark Nevers, a veteran of the country-leaning indie scene (Bonnie “Prince” Billy, Lambchop, Silver Jews) as producer,

“Stick Figures”, which The Big Takeover has the pleasure of premiering today, arrives between albums as a stand-alone single.Its digital release date is this Friday, May 24th. The track marches forward at a steady pace with direct, strongly expressed vocals, twangy and gritty guitar lines (and a buzzing, guitar-like sound from an unusual source – See below for details!) , and a pronounced drum beat.

Andy Stepanian goes into the backstory of the origin of “Stick Figures”, explaining, “We just went out to California to record a new album. We worked with Mark Nevers again and, as we were getting ready to head out there, we were going through some of the songs we recorded with him for the last album that didn’t make it for one reason or another. “Stick Figures” and its B-side, “Hollywood or Calvary”, are two that we have been playing live lately that we have always liked. Their exclusion from the album was more stylistic than anything. So it felt right to put them out together as a digital “single” and let them stand on their own and serve as a bridge between our last album and our next one. Plus, Mason plays a guitar part with a power drill on “Stick Figures” and we had to find a way to release it some day for that reason alone.”

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