In many ways Keaton Henson is an ideal soundtrack for those of us living in London or the South East of England today as the government announced an even stricter ‘tier 4,’ which is placing millions of people under the strictest rules since November’s national lockdown. For many of us here it is going to a very bleak Christmas and the fragile, broken music of Keaton Henson is exactly how many of us are feeling at the moment.

‘Ontario,’ is the third track on Keaton Henson’s latest album, ‘Monument,’ and is unique in eschewing his normal guitar-based style and opting for a keyboard accompaniment more in lieu of someone like Chet Faker who’s similarly emotional vocal style is often matched with chilled keyboards and slowed down, hipsterfied versions of rap tunes such as ‘No Diggity,’ as well as his own well-crafted songs with interesting lyrics and relaxing chords.

Keaton Henson is someone that you might describe as having something of a cult following, with today’s video attracting a modest 2,065 views so far, its certainly not the world-dominating pop force of someone like Dua Lipa, however one thing is for certain, those who follow Keaton Henson do follow him with great loyalty and take his music very seriously indeed. One admiring fan asks ‘Who thought his gorgeous voice could mature any more then it was? It’s mellowed out so beautifully, like a fine wine.’

In many ways the analogy of a fine wine is apt for Keaton Henson, someone who creates music so mature that it is unlikely to ever be misunderstood are fail to strike a resonant feeling within the listener. Since the release of is debut album ‘Dear,’ in 2010, which featured the gripping ‘You Don’t Know How Lucky You Are,’ Keaton Henson has had an incredibly productive ten years, releasing six incredibly original studio albums as well as a complete TV soundtrack to BBC Three’s In The Flesh.

The latest album, ‘Monument,’ is very much the pinnacle of Keaton Henson’s development as an artist, and yet the same closeness of feeling and emotional vulnerability which was present on ‘Dear,’ has not been lost or even spilled a single grain. ‘Ontario,’ feels just as penetratingly fragile as ‘You Don’t Know How Lucky You Are,’ yet it is also audible to hear the entire ten years of experience and creative development that he has gone through, an entire decade well spent.

It is even more gripping to see the song performed live, even though this live performance is unlike any other, conducted remotely, from a great distance for many of his fans, and yet feels like he is right in the room with you.

As well as clear influences on Keaton Henson’s songwriting style, the playlist also offers much insight into his guitar playing. Folk guitar legend Davey Graham’s ‘Angi,’ is infamous amongst guitar players as both fiendishly difficult and incredibly influential and makes an appearance in the playlist, as well as the tricky standard ‘Classical Gas,’ which is another tune often used to mark a person’s prowess on the instrument. Some more Rhythm and Blues based influences can also be found in Henson’s playlist in tunes such as Nina Simone’s ‘Baltimore,’ and Booker T. & The M.G.’s’ famous instrumental ‘Green Onions.’

Famously few of words when speaking outside of song, Keaton Henson recently conducted a Q&A session during his live streamed gig ‘Live From The Sanctuary where he answered queries from fans in his typically enigmatic style. When asked by a fan ‘do you ever wish you could write and release your music without actually having to be a known artist?‘ he simply replied ‘more than anything.’ Keaton Henson is also known to suffer from Anxiety which causes him to struggle with stage freight, when asked about this and how he overcame it to perform a live streamed event he replied ‘i didn’t, but it certainly helps when you’re all far away.’

Live From The Sanctuary was an intimate affair, with Henson making himself comfortable, surrounded by guitars and with other homely objects around the performance space. There was a definite vibe of an artists retreat about the location chosen to shoot the video which was suitable for the lonely and isolated style of his music. The concert was available to stream live last week and then for the following 24 hours at a discounted price.

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The performance featured classic song’s from Keaton Henson including ‘You Don’t Know How Lucky You Are,’ which was released on his 2010 album ‘Dear…’ 10 years later Keaton Henson has released his latest album called ‘Momentum,’ which features new hits such as the emotional ‘Ambulance,’ which is a definite throwback to his 2010 days. If today’s playlist, the Live From The Sanctuary Show and Q&A and ‘Momentum,’ were not enough, fans can also get to know the mind of Keaton Henson even more by purchasing a copy of his book of poetry ‘Accident Dancing.’

Ticket bundles for the event are available here, and include extras such as a Q&A session with the artist, a copy of the ‘Monument,’ album, a signed print or a copy of Henson’s recent book of poetry ‘Accident Dancing.’ Prices for the bundles range from £10 for a Q&A to £18.99 for a copy of the peotry.

This comes with the UK’s second national lockdown almost at an end, yet recent announcements regarding the stricter tier system which will replace it mean that the vast swathes of the UK will still be unable to enjoy live music, with only a very small minority of areas falling into the loosest ‘tier 1,’ category, and areas such as Kent and parts of Essex being raised to the strictest ‘tier 3,’ level.

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Keaton Henson has, like many other artists wisely have, not allowed lockdown to slow down either the creative process or reduce his interaction with fans. He has continued to release music, with his latest album ‘Monument,’ hitting stores four weeks ago and, like American contemporary Lana Del Rey, also decided to release a book of poetry called ‘Accident Dancing,’ which dropped on the 22nd of October.

‘Monument,’ is like all of Henson’s music to date, fragile, haunting and yet effortlessly warm and comforting. As listeners we feel his pain in a deeper way than we may be able to articulate by ourselves, and yet are deeply touched with a sense of solidarity in knowing that we are not alone in feeling lost, broken or uncomfortable in this world at times.

Fans will have gotten a taste of what to expect in this December’s event from the intimate live version of ‘Ambulance,’ a stand out track from the ‘Monument,’ album, which he posted on his Youtube channel a month ago. This song grabs your heart strings and tugs them gently in a way that is both beautiful and heartbreaking. It is rare to find a male artist today comfortable with showing as much vulnerability as Keaton Henson is able to show, a far cry away from the braggadocio and macho behaviour in the rap world.

Keaton Henson strips everything back to what music used to be, when a simple melody and an acoustic guitar were enough to break hearts. It is sad to see so few artists these days taking this formula and delivering it in a way which does not fall prey to cliche, or become over-commercial, processed pop music. The simplicity and imperfections in this music are what makes it so endearing, with no autotune or generic chord sequences to be found.

A mysterious presence to say the least, Henson’s fans will surely be very excited to be able to watch a live stream of a man so rarely known to give live performances. This may be one artist who is in fact grateful to the pandemic, for the restricted format of live streaming and reduced social contact which can generate greater mystique.

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Fall is now here, what a perfect time to welcome English poet and artist @keatonhenson and German pianist @niklaspaschburg. See you on Tuesday at 7pm Paris/Berling, 6pm London, 1pm New-York, 10am LA live on Instagram. #StayAwayShow

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Keaton Henson debut album Dear came out in 2010. It was a collection of ten beautiful songs that he initially made with no intention of releasing them to the public. This makes sense considering the deeply intimate feel to the songs, which are rich with emotion.

Keaton’s voice is the type that comes directly from the soul, moving its listener entirely. You Don’t Know How Lucky You Are, the second track on his debut album, is an evocative tale of heartbreak addressed to a former girlfriend . Keaton shaking voice asks ‘Does he know not to talk// about your dad? Does he know when you are sad?… Does his love make your head spin?’. 

These words, sung with delicacy and feeling and underpinned by simple guitar, caught the attention of Zane Lowe. Lowe played the piece on BBC Radio 1 saying: ‘This piece of music right here… is one of the most special pieces of music I’ve heard for a very long time’.

This exposure helped Henson gain the recognition he deserves, and since then he has been shortlisted for an MVA award and his songs have thousands of plays on Spotify. Despite this success, the London born singer suffers from chronic anxiety and has never been comfortable with live performance.

He told the Irish Times in 2019 that he ‘doesn’t like performing or anything that veers into that territory’, going on to speak about how even going to the shops to buy a pint of milk can be difficult for him. His most recent album, Six Lethargies, released in 2019 was a six track collection of movements for a string orchestra.

These ‘aimed to express and explain the feelings of anxiety and depression that he feels’, and this is certainly achieved. One would be hard pushed to listen to The Falling or Unease Concerto without feeling the pain in the strings that are played. This has always been Keaton’s biggest strength as a musician: to move his listeners through his music in the way that great artist like Bon Iver do.

His most recent single, Husk came out in September this year and though it had a more upbeat rhythm section, it still explored feelings of heartbreak and loss. This track was released in advance of his upcoming album, that is due for release on October 23rd. His performance on La Blogothèque will surely be a touching one, made all the more intimate without the crowd watching.