Keaton Henson has released details of his forthcoming album Parader, the LP drops on November 21 via Play It Again Sam. Along with the news, Henson has shared new single titled “Insomnia”, the track follows his recent single “Lazy Magician” (co-written by Ratboys’ Julia Steiner). Those acquainted with Henson’s work will surely be familiar with his well-worn reputation as a softly spoken, introverted figure who rarely performs live – in a 15-year career he’s performed less than 40 times. “Sadness I suppose” he once confessed, “is a feeling of which I have an excess of.”

“Insomnia” expands further on Henson’s artistic new direction, entwining aching self-observation with a defiance Keaton terms “musical snark”. Rife with an American heft in its fuzz-laden instrumentation, echoes of his past are creeping into frame. As he sings, “the haunted 7-Eleven’s open all night,” Henson’s timeline is fragmenting, pulling him back more than a decade to the year he lived in California. “I’m singing about the fact that I can’t sleep from my bedroom in wild rural Sussex, looking out over the fields, but then it’s like there’s suddenly a 7-Eleven in the middle of the field, old memories invading my present” he explains, recalling insomnia-induced night walks around Los Angeles. The single is accompanied by a stunning animated stop motion video made by Henson himself which reflects the dreaminess and surrealism that comes with those long nights.

Henson collaborated with a number of different musicians on Parader. Production duties were split between Luke Sital-Singh, who Henson soon discovered “grew up in a similar area at a similar time, so our reference points were the same,” and Alex Farrar (Wednesday, Snail Mail). The intimately tender “Furl” also found a first-time co-writer in his wife, artist and musician Danielle Fricke, while Henson worked with Ratboys’ Julia Steiner on the earlier mentioned “Lazy Magician” A downtrodden duet that unfolds like a haunting daydream before winding guitars soar, Henson explains: “Julia’s voice is so evocative of that sound to me, it reminds me of when I first heard Rilo Kiley. She has a lot of the suburban magic-realism of the American bands I loved back then.”

Keaton Henson
Parader
Play It Again Sam
Tracklisting

1. Don’t I Just
2. Insomnia
3. Lazy Magician (ft. Julia Steiner)
4. Past It
5. Conversation Coach
6. Furl (ft. Danielle Fricke)
7. Loose Ends
8. Operator
9. Tell Me So
10. Tourniquet
11. Day In New York
12. Performer

pre-order Parader by Keaton Henson HERE