Kiran Leonard: Grapefruit review – heavy, all-elbows indie folk

It might be reductive to describe something as a bloody racket, but Kiran Leonard’s second record is unquestionably that – albeit with plenty to cling to in times of almost intolerable discord. The 20-year-old makes heavy, all-elbows indie-folk that manages to feel overwrought and ramshackle at once. The brilliant, difficult, 16-minute Pink Fruit features a combination of Leonard’s aggressively mournful vocals, a story about a girl with a squid in her stomach and long periods of general cacophony, all held together with a small, bright riff that keeps returning throughout the song like an old friend. Elsewhere, the meandering feels self-indulgent – listening to gabbled nonsense words derived from the name of a Mongolian giant can’t be anybody’s idea of fun. Still, Leonard’s vocal gymnastics are impressive: at times, he resembles a hairline-fractured Jeff Buckley, at others, he only offers a rasping squawk; either way, it’s a bracing sound.