Ah, the sweet delights of Candy Cigarettes, those thin white sticks of some sweet concoction with the realistic glow of red at the tip; all packaged away in what was rather like a matchbox and came with collectable candy cigarette cards. Was there ever anything so fine? Well, yeah, it was the chocolate cigarettes; much more true cigarette size, stems of chocolaty goodness wrapped in rice paper; man, they were the best, and they came in squishy card containers that mimicked oh so closely the real adult cigarette packets. Was there ever a more perfect example of immoral advertising? They may as well have called them “Kiddiebutt cigarettes” and packaged them in Starrzelius Red. And for all their delicious efforts we have to report; it didn’t work, fellas.
Which brings us to Leon III, who has a new album ready called Candy Cigarettes, from which today’s track is taken. Invisible Ink is a song which questions assumptions and challengingly asks “Can we root for the killer? / Can we praise the thief ?” and anyone who watches much TV or goes to the movies regularly knows the answer to that; we are perversely attracted to these personifications of evil that we would never wish to actually meet.
It says here that Leon III has quietly become one of the underground’s best-kept secrets; well, I guess we’ve blown their cover today on the internet’s top Americana music sites. Led by Andy Stepanian and Mason Brent, Leon III has steadily solidified their recording and live show lineup over the years, recording three previous albums on their way to Candy Cigarettes.
