After an unpredictable stretch of releases that found spotlight-avoiding U.K. musician
Keaton Henson
deviating from intimate singer/songwriter fare and into areas such as experimental electronic music, instrumental chamber works, and back again for 2020's very personal
Monument
, he approached his eighth proper studio album (depending on how you count) with a character in mind: a more confident, fame-seeking alternative version of himself. (The album's cover features an illustration of
Henson
cradling a decapitated double of his own head.) Meanwhile, he studied up on favorite albums by bands like
Big Star
,
the Replacements
, and
the Only Ones
, and put together a backing band consisting of guitarist
"Little" Barrie Cadogan
(
Primal Scream
Edwyn Collins
), bassist
Harry Deacon
Kid Wave
Palace
), and drummer
Matt Ingram
Laura Marling
Florence + the Machine
). He also enlisted
Luke Smith
Depeche Mode
Foals
) and
Fiona Cruickshank
Paul Weller
Dot Allison
) to produce. While this vision and preparation do result in some effervescent jangle and perhaps the songwriter's most indie rock-forward album to date, longtime fans needn't fear, as there is plenty of the rawly self-conscious rumination that may have drawn them to
in the first place on the slyly titled
House Party
, even if it's often translated through a lonely, empty vessel who compromised himself for success. Opening track "I'm Not There," for instance, is one of the album's bounciest, but its bittersweet melodicism is blanketed in lyrics full of self-doubt. In no time at all,
moves on to the more melancholy, half-whispered "Rain in My Favourite House," whose strummed guitar, gentle piano, and tapped hi-hat expand into a fully backed chorus that admits, "I've been sleeping in/Barely breathing/I've been comatose/If you must know."
progresses through songs with titles like "Envy," "Two Bad Teeth," and "Late to You" before arriving at the brighter "Parking Lot" about two-thirds of the way through, although "brighter" is relative on an uptempo, tuneful entry that starts with the line, "I thought I might get better." Some of the effervescence present on
may come from a heartfelt place --
married and moved from London to countryside before writing it -- but for the most part, the album allows a songwriter who has previously explored mental illness, physical illness, and anxiety with candor to delve into topics like isolation and self-loathing through a pane of separation. Regardless of the origin of the viewpoint, the songs here are good ones and feel authentic -- the plaintive "The Mine" is partly about writing songs -- making for arguably his best release since his striking debut. ~ Marcy Donelson