Keaton Henson has announced that his new album, Parader, will be released on November 21st via Play It Again Sam. The announcement arrives alongside the release of a new single, “Insomnia,” which offers a first look at the album’s new stylistic direction. The track pairs sardonic lyrics with a raw, fuzz-laden instrumentation, exploring themes of self-observation while pulling him back to moments from his past. The new record will be Henson’s ninth studio album, following on from last year’s Somnambulant Cycles.
Of the single, he explains,
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.
“Insomnia” is also accompanied by a stunning animated stop-motion video, which Henson created himself. It perfectly reflects the dreaminess and surrealism that comes with those long nights, giving a visual representation to the song’s fragmenting timeline. The new album and single follow his recent return with “Lazy Magician,” co-written with Ratboys’ Julia Steiner, which was released earlier this summer and further teased this new direction for his music.
