By Emma Weidmann | Arts and Life Editor
Psychedelic duo Leon III have been making music together since 1999, and through the past two decades, Mason Brent and Andy Stepanian have grown as artists and learned the virtue of brevity in their music.
Their new album, “Something is Trying to Change My Mind,” which was released on Oct. 13, shows a new side to the musicians, and it took a long time to get there. The first iteration of the album had nothing “inspiring or interesting,” so Brent said it hit the chopping block.
“We started in South Carolina and basically scrapped everything that we did there, and then we started over outside El Paso two springs ago now,” Brent said. “So it took a while. … We were in COVID-19 when we started it — certainly doesn’t help anything. We’re here. We’ve have it. We have it out.”
The final product takes elements from “global percussion” like Indian tabla drums and sitar, as well as a little bit of ’60s and ’70s rock in the vein of George Harrison, according to Stepanian.
But, the Indian inspiration doesn’t stop there. The song “Dogwood Blooms” is an envisioning of a Hindu tale of people occupied by ghosts, which Stepanian applied to the spirits said to haunt his hometown of Richmond, Va. And, of course, it’s filled with sitar.
Brent said it’s usually a good feeling to be done with the album, and Stepanian added that the relief of putting a new album out is to finally be able to “launch the ship” and move on to begin a new project.
The band debuted some of the new songs for the first time at their Austin City Limits set on Sunday, which Stepanian said felt like a celebration of the project. Though “Something is Trying to Change My Mind” is not yet a week old, Leon III are not stopping for a beat. Stepanian said touring plans are in the works, as well as new projects.
Brent looked back on two decades of a musical career. Although they’ve always enjoyed the life, Brent said they’ve gathered some new wisdom since the days of Wrinkle Neck Mules — their first band, formed in 1999. That makes Leon III the best they’ve ever been.
“We’re still doing it, and we’re doing it in a smarter, more practical and a currently very fun way,” Brent said. “The fun was always there with our old stuff, but we didn’t have the most professional approach about it. So, we’re trying to do some things better, having learned some lessons over the years.”
Brent said some of that musical growth came in the form of learning to cut and edit a song to make a concise album, which Leon III feel culminates with the new record. According to Brent, each song is distinguishable from others, which is also something that added interest and inspiration during the creative process.
“Most every song is pretty distinct, rather than just something that you can sort of necessarily clump together very easily, and it’s more succinct delivery,” Brent said. “It’s a little different than our first two, and I think everybody would say in a great way.”
