Keaton Henson – Dear... (2010)

Keaton Henson is a very special singer-songwriter. His songs are incredibly intimate and personal. There is a specific reason for this. Henson never meant to record music for larger audiences. he was an illustrator, who just started making music for his own enjoyment. But then a friend of his heard his music and encouraged him to get the music out there. He has become fairly popular in the London indie circles afterwards and especially critics love his music. But there's a slight problem. Henson suffers from intense anxiety, which makes performing live virtually impossible. That's why it is pretty much impossible to get to see him live. Quite recently he composed a classical piece about his anxiety and I went to see this performed by a string orchestra in Barbican. Henson came out to take a bow in the end, and even just doing that seemed to take a lot of effort.



This is probably why his music sounds so incredibly intimate. you can almost picture him hunched next to you, playing his guitar when the record is on. Dear is Henson's debut album and you can hear that the songs are kinds of songs that you just play alone in your bedroom. For anyone who has done this themselves, it is clear from the album that these songs are ingenious. I'm a bit disappointment not being able to hear these songs live, but at the same time, I am grateful that I at least got the chance to hear these songs on recordings.

I was introduced to Henson through his second album Birthdays, which I still think is his greatest work to date. Dear... I found in a local record store second hand and I was really excited to find some more of Henson's music so I bought the CD. Dear... is much more stripped down and simple than Birthdays, but it just makes it probably even more intimate. Then again, I think a bit more focus on sounds has really done some good to his songs.

The album starts with a quiet Prologue that consists of birds singing and some quiet muffled announcements. There are also some harmonic sounds from a guitar that eventually lead to the first proper track You Don't Know How Lucky You Are that opens with harmonics as well. This was the song that was also released as a single and hailed as one of the most special things to come out in years by Zane Lowe on BBC1. Charon has some acoustic fast picking and melancholic melodies. It sounds more like traditional folk music than probably anything else on this album. Oliver Dalston Browning is a great example of the kind of lo-fi indie folk that appeals to other musicians as you can hear every single bit of the picking really clearly and appreciate the playing as it would sound like live. Sarah Minor is a bit more approachable song that kind of reminds me of Damien Rive songs, as the sounds are a bit softer. Small Hands goes even further in improving the soundscapes. There is some beautiful pizzicato playing on top of the guitars. The sad vocal melody is almost crushingly melancholic. Flesh and Bone brings back the electric guitar. In terms of songwriting, this is one of the best songs on the album. I like the melodies and how the song grows from minimal to bigger throughout the song. Also the chorus is quite catchy. Nests is a cute little acoustic folk song with a melody that sounds like hope. Not That You'd Even Notice brings some glockenspiels and singalongs in the game. It doesn't feel like the best choice as it removes some of the intimacy of the rest of the album. The album ends with contrastingly named Party Song, which actually is like the opposite of a party song. It's slow, melancholic, quiet and intimate, yet beautiful.

Luckily enough, Keaton Henson has some music videos, so you don't have to be completely without visual side even if you can't see him perform live. The music video for You Don't Know How Lucky You Are features a woman in period clothing out in the wilderness. She starts to cry in the beginning of the song and it feels like her reaction is just reacting to the song itself. There's obvious sadness but I think I can also detect the happiness she gets from hearing and seeing something beautiful. I definitely get that blissful good feeling when I hear sad music and it makes me cry. Towards the end of the video, the camera zooms out of her and reveals the beauty of the surrounding landscape while she falls down on her knees.

I've only known Keaton Henson's music for maybe five years, but he has become one of my favourite artists. He's a kind of artist that is capable of making me cry and feel a range of emotions. This is what's most important to me in music.

Listen to the album on Spotify.