"The story began with the contemplation of lines drawn in the white gravel of a Zen garden: that of the Tokaian temple in Kyoto, which was off-limits to visitors, a few years ago. From that stolen moment, suspended in time, came the inspiration for my new album, 'The Complexity of the Simple'.

"I worked on these instrumental pieces with meticulous craftsmanship, over a period of nearly ten years (2016-2025), continuing on my path towards minimalism. An aesthetic nourished by the visual arts — in particular the sculptor Pierre Labat, who also took the photograph for the cover.

"With this new opus, I want to draw attention to an issue that I believe will be crucial in the forthcoming years and decades. The music industry was born thanks to fossil fuels (oil, coal, gas) - which are responsible for the excess CO² we emit every day - and it is dependent on them at every single stage.

"But the use of these energies is set to decline sharply in the future: either because of the need to decarbonise our societies in order to limit climate change, or simply because they are non-renewable and their peak and decline are inevitable. This transition, in our time of ecological backlash, is a colossal and long-term undertaking. It will take many years, probably decades. And we know that in any case, the sooner the better.

"In this context, when do we get to work? When do we start preparing for a future world without hydrocarbons, and probably more sober? What new ways of producing, playing and listening to music will emerge?"

Sylvain 

TRACK LISTING

1. Le Zen Dans L'art Du Tir À L'arc
2. The Guitar Piece I Wrote For Masumi
3. Wabi Sabi For Beginners
4. Sen No Rikyu
5. Lignes Tranquilles Dans Le Gravier Blanc

Having made a solo move to the Berkshire Mountains in upstate New York in September 2020 after years living in Brooklyn, Jensen found herself confronting and enjoying a newfound solitude as the nonstop movement and collaboration of city life had come to a standstill. The first LP she made post-move, Esthesis, is largely devoid of cello, synth heavy, and examines emotions in a self-conscious way from an isolated point of view that is nearly one-dimensional.

Jensen sets new parameters for this new album, placing the acoustic sound of the cello at the fore, and affecting the sound only through a few effects (octave displacement, delay, tremolo and looping). “It felt necessary to return to the rich acoustic sound of the cello that I've loved and produced for nearly my
entire life, and to return to an expression of emotion that's multi-dimensional and sincere,” she notes.

As a soloist, Jensen endeavours to establish a new tradition of solo cello performance that integrates electronics with the storied and beloved performance practice intrinsic to the instrument. She places great importance on finding and working with effects pedals that integrate well with the cello (and avoids overt use of plugins or playback).

The solo cello works of J.S. Bach as a central backdrop to this new album. Bach’s Solo Cello Suites display a rich range of voices created by one instrument. Having found ways to expand the sound and voice of the instrument through electronics, Jensen found it fitting to return to Bach's works as a way to touch back in with the tradition of the instrument.

“… what steps forth, in holiday clothing, out of the great darkness."– Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters to a Young Poet

As a composer, Jensen insists that the programmatic elements of her albums align and ring true. She writes that, “the quote from Rilke had been bouncing around my mind for many years; the visualisation of musical ideas being born and echoing inside a ‘great darkness,’ then emerging ‘in holiday clothing’ felt
very beautiful and tangible, and this essay, which to me is a manifesto in celebration of solitude, depicts what so many artists and composers experience when they endeavour solitary work. This album reflects a personal and conceptual exploration of what solo means.”

TRACK LISTING

1. In Holiday Clothing, Out Of The Great Darkness Part 1

2. From A To B €

Keeley Forsyth is a singer, composer and actress from Oldham, UK. A frequent presence on primetime TV since the mid-'90s, over the past few years she has forged an unusual parallel career as a unique and uncompromising new presence in contemporary music. Described by Pitchfork as “arid and beautiful”, by Uncut as "astonishing" and The Sunday Times as "one of the most remarkable in years”, Keeley's debut LP 'Debris' (2020) and follow-up 'Limbs' (2022) drew unanimous critical praise, prompting comparisons with Nico, Beth Gibbons, Aldous Harding, Nick Cave, Anohni and even Scott Walker. It's often stated that no one else is making music quite like this.

The bleak and foreboding landscape surrounding Keeley's North Yorkshire home seems to inhabit her third LP, 'The Hollow'. The moors, visible from her studio window, impact upon a music that feels made of these places: windswept, rain-soaked and blinking through the low-lit landscape. The album's title derives from discovering a long-abandoned mining shaft whilst out walking - the past lurking within and haunting the present we now occupy. A connection to time that places us within it, facing what is gone and what may come. But also, perhaps that time has no concern as to whether we're here or not.

Keeley's unique elemental voice again sits centrally within this world-building. Her cathartic reflections are exorcisms in song. We hear an artist making sense of her life, willing to expose vulnerability without ever appearing weak. Working again with producer Ross Downes, the LP features Matthew Bourne and Colin Stetson, Forsyth sought to expand both her voice and music. Taking aspects of sacred music, minimalist post-classical, dark ambient, film and theatre soundtracks, she layers her vocals into chamber choirs, applies pitch shifts and other digital processing, moves from clear articulate intention to mumbled numb utterances.

Composer Mihály Vig's score to Bela Tarr’s film 'The Turin Horse' is reimagined as a pressurised outpouring, recasting the everyday within a mythical light of survival and hope. On ‘A Shift’, Mal Finch's protest song ‘We Are Women, We Are Strong ‘, originally sung by wives and daughters in support of the '80s miner’s strikes, is recontextualised in solidarity for an experience of creative labour.

A sought-after collaborator, Keeley is currently working towards new projects with Ben Frost, Teho Teardo, and Matthew Bourne. She has provided vocals for Louis Carnell; remixed both Gazelle Twin and Quin Quis; has soundtracked Maxine Peake’s directorial debut; and is currently developing a stage and studio project with Ben Frost and writer Robert MacFarlane.

A magnetic live performer able to create an immersive almost ritualistic experience, Keeley recently received a standing ovation at Unsound and supports the LP with shows at Bristol New Music, Rewire festival and London's ICA.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: A monolithic slab of otherworldly cascading vocals and foreboding postclassical heft, Keeley Forsyth has crafted a terrifying and hugely moving LP that falls somewhere between ambient soundtrack business, gothic folk and drone, and honestly I couldn't be any more on board. Stunning.

TRACK LISTING

Side A
1. The Answer
2. The Hollow
3. Come And See
4. Eve
5. Turning
6. A Shift
Side B
1. Slush
2. Drag Me Down
3. Do I Breathe
4. In The Corner
5. Horse
6. Creature