Keeley Forsyth - Debris (LIMITED;RD: - ONE PER PERSON)

The Leaf Label

£19.78

LIMITED RELEASE - ONE PER PERSON

Genre: Singer-Songwriter
Format: LP+DL (OXBLOOD/SIGNED)
Catalogue No.: BAY116VO
B/C: UPC 843190011643
Release Date: 4th December 2020

***Love Record Stores exclusive limited edition oxblood vinyl LP to mark Debris’ inclusion inLRS’s Albums of the Year. Limited to 300 individually signed copies. Non-Returnable***

The songs comprising Keeley Forsyth’s debut, are, she states simply, “like blocks of metal that drop from the sky”. Minimal arrangements place that elemental voice front and centre. Nerves are quietly frayed over its running time; an intimate document of personal change, we’re held in limbo until the final note is left to ring. Debris explores the darker corners of domestic life, balancing the need to create with the responsibilities that come with a family, a partner and a career. Seismic ruptures behind closed doors. “There was a lot going on in my life that was heavy and hard,” she adds. “Songs were made under that moment.”

Born and raised in Oldham in the north-west of England, Forsyth first made her name as an actor. Her enigmatic voice is so indelible even she is sometimes provoked to refer to it as a third person, like the characters she’s inhabited as an actor, this time populating songs sharing tales of the high and low tides, of freedom and entrapment, and of hard-won triumphs. “They’ve been in my mind for a while,” she concludes. “I have sung them to my children, and at home alone, and making this album has been an opportunity for me to discover the voice and being who sings these songs. It has changed me, and will continue to. I recognise my life again.”

With sparse arrangements by pianist and composer Matthew Bourne and producer Sam Hobbs, Keeley Forsyth’s music is centred around a singular, emotionally raw and magnetic vocal delivery

The first single ‘Debris’ was accompanied by an evocative video directed by Maxine Peake
Maxine also gave ‘Debris’ its first radio play on BBC 6 Music
‘Start Again’ found its way onto the BBC 6 Music playlist

Support from Mary Anne Hobbs, John Doran, Laura Barton, Stuart Maconie and Late Junction
For fans of Nico, Scott Walker, Aldous Harding, Karen Dalton, Susanna & The Magical Orchestra, Jenny Hval, PJ Harvey, Cat Power, Mary Margaret O’Hara, Fever Ray

A magnetic and intuitive live performer Forsyth has toured with Julian Cope and Ben Watt, and will return to the stage in 2021 – including a Queen Elizabeth Hall show with Watt

CD LP
1. A1. Debris
2. A2. Black Bull
3. A3. It’s Raining
4. A4. Look To Yourself
5. B1. Lost
6. B2. Butterfly
7. B3. Large Oak
8. B4. Start Again

On Debris:

“[Forsyth’s] album Debris is one of the most remarkable in years” - The Sunday Times

“Debris is an astonishing debut, not just for the power of the songs, but for the journey they trace” 8/10 Uncut

“A shivery descendent of Scott Walker’s Tilt, a more unsettling older sister of Aldous Harding’s Designer” - The Guardian

“This deeply melancholic brand of haunting, sparse folk is as intoxicating as it is unsettling”
4/5 Q

“An arid and beautiful debut” - 7.6 Pitchfork

“Reminiscent of Nico, or Karen Dalton, Beth Gibbons at the edges - leaving the deepest impression” 4/5 Mojo

“This really is breathtakingly good” - Electronic Sound

“Melancholic, contemplative and deeply devastating… If more debuts in 2020 are this good it’ll be a fine year” - 8/10 Loud & Quiet

“Otherworldly: think Karen Dalton, Nico or Anohni” - 8/10 Long Live Vinyl

“A brooding, melancholic listen” - the Quietus

“It may be only January, but Debris gives the overwhelming impression that one of the defining releases of 2020 may already be upon us” - 9/10 Music OMH

“Debris can join Nick Cave’s last two albums as the soundtrack to your loneliest moments, the hand you will want to grasp when you come apart, a voice that will touch your sadness and change your world tonight” - 9/10 God Is In The TV