Andrew Thompson reviews the shimmeringly sad album from Keaton Henson
Play It Again Sam
Released: 16.09.16
Britain’s most heartbroken man returns after a two year absence with the hauntingly sombre Kindly Now.
Album opener March sees Keaton Henson tiptoe tentatively into the world of electronica with looped vocals reminiscent of early James Blake. Henson has always written from a place so superfluously melancholic it’s little wonder he hardly manages to play live – a theme addressed frankly in Alright.
String arrangements throughout give the album an almost cinematic texture but for the most part Kindly Now is nothing but a near perfectly resonant piano, Henson’s trembling vocal and stomach wrenchingly poignant lyricism – exemplified by No Witnesses.
Henson is the rightful heir to Jeff Buckley’s throne as the lord of all things shimmeringly sad.
