Keaton Henson has announced his new album Monument is to be released on October 23rd via Play It Again Sam, and from it he’s released a new single, Prayer, accompanied by a video with footage provided by Henson and put together into haunting form by Stink Rising director Geej Ower.
Of the track, written shortly after the death of his father, Keaton elaborates: “Prayer is a meditation on the act of preparing to lose someone, in whatever form that takes. It’s about the feeling of helplessness, and the realisation that there are no words you can say to someone before they leave that will make it less painful when they do, as much as we feel like there must be. The orchestral section is a more personal statement; I didn’t know what to say to my dad before he left and I don’t really know what to say now, so it is, for once in the record, just simply goodbye”
Built around this heart wrenching piano line, and with Henson’s elegiac vocal draped over the top, it’s a final goodbye to his father – emotive, beatiful and plain old sad. After a false ending, the music comes back, all strings weaving in and out of eachother, falling over suspensions as little audio clips, maybe from long lost or forgotten home movies, play out.
It has to be one of, if not the, most affecting, beautiful songs of the year. Listen here
