An Interview with Saint Leonard
ABOUT THE WRITERS
Alden Nagel is the founder and editor of Nut Hole Publishing. You can find him on Instagram. He has an upcoming novella entitled Salination Mountains, and a paired novel entitled The Desalinated Exosphere.
Saint Leonard (Kieran Leonard) is a British musician, songwriter, actor and a writer. He currently performs most frequently with his backing band The Horses. You can learn more about him here.
Alden Nagel: How do you feel about the term “classical music” in relationship with the phrase “ambient music”?
Saint Leonard: I have the feeling that the ambient genre will one day be included under the 'classical music' genus. Brian Eno's ambient records are already considered 'modern classics' and undoubtedly possess the innovative quality and enduring promethean power to ensure them becoming part of the great 'classical' music cannon.
Alden Nagel: Do you believe there is a certain form of spirituality to architecture in Berlin, Germany today?
Saint Leonard: I certainly believe that there is a very particular supernaturally effecting energetic charge to the the architecture in Berlin. It is a searingly haunted psycho-geographic environment to wander through. During my time living in the district of Neukoln I recall how the foreboding scale of the buildings and endless strasses always affected me. They build things big in Berlin and there is a sense of vastness and space both structurally and somehow psychologically in the layout of the town. I had many introspective days wandering through the void of Templehof, the huge eerily abandoned airstrip and terminal situated almost in the center of the city.
Alden Nagel: How do you feel about The Incredible String Band? Have you ever seen them perform live?
Saint Leonard: I do not know that much about this band aside from them being Scottish and prolific. Whenever I've heard their music I've been struck by how pure it sounds and how much I like it.
Alden Nagel: Are there any particular spiritual leaders which you return to thinking about lately?
Saint Leonard: Aleister Crowley, Gurdjieff and Carl Jung, if any of those count?
Alden Nagel: Do you feel as if there are any kinds of plants that provide an elevated spiritual experience by being near them?
Saint Leonard: Old Oak trees and Jurassic Golden Ferns and some hardy sea salt withstanding coastal plants that I encounter when I take my daily perambulation along the beach where I live on the brutal English seaside.
Alden Nagel: What is one of the greatest upliftings of another artist’s character over the course of their life that you have seen, and why?
Saint Leonard: Tracey Emin, she recently moved back to her hometown of Margate which is near me and I was fortuitous enough to meet her when she opened an art school there last summer. I find how she dealt with such vicious early criticism so brilliantly and gracefully very inspiring, and I deeply admire her humour and resilience in the face of the many challenges she has faced in her life.
Alden Nagel: How might you define the spiritual-geographical connection between the United Kingdom and the Pacific Northwest?
Saint Leonard: Gosh that is hard to answer with any surety or veracity as I've never been to the Pacific Northwest, however it’s true to say that certain artists from that region have certainly had an enduring impact on the United Kingdom, the influence of Nirvana for example is still extremely prescient in the youth music scene here.
You can listen to Saint Leonard’s newest single The Red Book below.