Semantic Hygiene: Songs of Mirth & Menace is a multimedia project collecting the best work of New Orleans musician Ryan S. Leavitt. The compositions range from alt-rock to emo to folk (with an occasional dash of flamenco). 

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The poetic style is at once verbose, gentle, and witty; with stanzas that press up against the ineffability of the human experience or satirize cultural norms with melodic wordplay. The result is a panacea for all things trite.

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Going beyond its page, Semantic Hygiene includes digital downloads to the music where the lyrics live. The author invites you to experience the words before listening to the songs—in a reversal of typical music consumption. Additionally, this collection is speckled with essays on language and lyricism, plus illustrations of the cutest otter possible (among other fancies).