I Know Leopard Announce Debut Album & Tour

It is with great excitement that Ivy League Records today announce I Know Leopard’s long-awaited debut album, Love Is A Landmine will be released on Friday 5 April. To celebrate, the Sydney four-piece reveal a brand new single Heather with accompanying video and also share the news they will head off on their biggest run of shows to date this May and June.

I Know Leopard’s sparkling new track Heather is the second single from their forthcoming debut album, following the stunning lead single Landmine. Directed by Stupid Genius, the clip for Heather is a sequel to the video for Landmine, which was released in August 2018 to an out pour of love from devoted I Know Leopard followers and new fans alike. The song received support across triple j, FBi, 4ZZZ, Radio Adelaide and more, and led to a jam-packed BIGSOUND showcase and a sold out East Coast tour.

The band will bring their Love Is A Landmine record to life on their album tour this May and June kicking off in Adelaide in May and travelling nationally to finish up in Canberra. The run of shows will follow the band’s showcases at SXSW music conference in March.

On their debut album Love Is A Landmine, produced by Jack Moffit (The Preatures) and mixed by Luke Million, I Know Leopard explode their emotions onto a musical kaleidoscope. Written against a back drop of emotional turmoil, which ultimately finished off with new love blossoming, Love Is A Landmine is an unashamedly romantic record that pulls you deep into the rich gamut of emotions that love will inevitably drag you through.

“I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t an album full of love songs,” says lead vocalist and chief songwriter Luke O’Loughlin, “but not always in the classic romantic sense. It reflects on experiences where attempts at love are met with confusion, pain and alienation. The record also explores the importance of learning to love yourself before you can successfully love someone else.”

O’Loughlin, along with his bandmates, Rosie Fitzgerald (bass), Jenny McCullagh (violin and keys) and Todd Andrews (guitar), have created the perfect musical complement to the open and impassioned lyrics. Musically, Love Is A Landmine shines, revelling in glam, dreamy synth pop and the kind of playful, upbeat, 70s soft rock made famous by ELO, 10CC and the Alan Parsons Project. Blended seamlessly within that is the taut new wave energy of Metronomy and a glorious deep dive into vintage analogue synths.

“Without sounding too much like a dad,” laughs O’Loughlin. “We just want to show that the classic song is not dead and can still exist in the modern climate. Ultimately we just wanted to give all the music we love a place to live in the modern world.”

So complete is the record in both sound and style, you’d be forgiven for thinking the band had fallen to earth fully formed. In fact, it’s a sound the band has crafted over two EPs, Illumina and Another Life, and two stand-alone singles, Let Go and Rather Be Lonely.

As a finished product, Love Is A Landmine is the musical equivalent of a space blanket: gleaming, shimmering, retro-futuristic and synthetic, but will envelope you and warm you to your very core.

Love Is A Landmine will be released on Friday 5 April on digital, CD and limited red vinyl and is available now to pre-order here. Tickets for I Know Leopard’s album tour are also on sale now!