This week, we
heard news surrounding Keaton Henson, who
has announced plans for a second album and launches his solo art show in London next week.
Not only an incredibly talented singer songwriter, this 24 year old is a man of many talents. Hailing from the suburbs of London, Keaton is an illustrator/visual artist and poet. His diverse, creative mind allows him to gain a great appreciation and following amongst his growing fan base. With his creative flow continuing from pen and paper, into the sensational music, at first not even intended for release.
Keaton Henson will release his stunning second album, ‘Birthdays’, on February 25 – the follow-up to
2012’s critically acclaimed ‘Dear...’. A new single, ‘Lying To You’, arrives
the same day, in the wake of its premiere on Zane Lowe's show and extensive support across XFM, 6Music and
Radio 2.
Having suffered with extensive anxiety, Keaton has also announced a tentative
return to touring – see a unique series of dates at museums nationwide,
commencing in February. All shows have already sold out, following 5-star
reviews for Keaton’s Cinema Museum shows in October. He plays the Freud Museum on February 18 and 19 (which sold
out in just two minutes).
At just 24 years old, Keaton Henson’s songs, artwork and poetry are
known by hundreds of thousands of people around the world. Yet he is a virtual
stranger, whose anonymity is no accident. Keaton’s songs are as brutal as they
are beautiful.
Keaton Henson’s debut album, ‘Dear...’, showed how lovelorn sounds can
mix powerfully with rawness and rough emotion. Written and recorded in less
than a year, ‘Birthdays’ goes even further. Lead single ‘Lying To You’ may
sound like a love song, but it reveals how painfully easy it is to be with
someone you don't love. ‘Teach Me’ longs for someone to convince you to feel
something for them, when in truth you feel nothing. And if ‘Dear...’ was beset
by heartbreak, ‘Birthdays’ presents a character whose desire for intimacy is
haunted by an occasional urge for self-destruction. ‘Best Today’ shows how you
can fall for a stranger on the tube, and then forget them in a second. ‘Beekeeper’
warns you that this loneliness won't go away. And in the album’s heavy climax, ‘Kronos’
casts Keaton as a monster, who will “take your soul, and eat you whole.” In
both its loud and quiet moments, ‘Birthdays’ is pierced through by Keaton’s
unflinching lyrical honesty, which in part earned him his obsessive following
on ‘Dear...’.
‘Birthdays’ sees Keaton Henson stepping outside of his comfort zone,
both in tone, texture and also his hometown. American producer Joe Chiccarelli (The White Stripes, The
Shins, The Strokes) said he wanted to work on the album, and this
meant that Keaton had to travel to California. Leaving the solitary boy’s leafy
suburbs, Keaton Henson went to Hollywood.
It was whilst decamped in L.A. that Keaton met by chance (and
eventually recorded with) several guests across the record. He set up a
temporary cave in the studio, recreating his bedroom’s isolation, but allowed
others into the fray this time.
'Birthdays' is a
fuller-sounding, brutally honest record, featuring guest turns from members
across Band of Horses, Alberta Cross, The Raveonettes and even Pearl Jam.
Slowly but surely, growing in confidence, Keaton Henson may just be
stepping out of the shadows – not that he will ever be the kind of
artist to bathe in the light. Yet his music gets to the heart of us. And on ‘Birthdays’,
we start to get to the heart of him.
Self portrait, Keaton Henson
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