Following on from 2019's 'The Unforgiving Current', Horsebeach's Ryan Kennedy returns with his fifth record 'Things To Keep Alive'. With 'The Unforgiving Current' exploring the themes of isolation whilst living in Tokyo, Kennedy has since returned to the perpetual grey of Mancunia. But rather than viewing his return to Manchester as a step back, Kennedy has used Horsebeach as a catalyst to explore and make positive strides within his mental health.

From Beatles-esque balladry, fuzzed out shoegaze and a lavish cover of a 00s pop classic, 'Things To Keep Alive' still importantly retains the Horsebeach DNA and even has moments that will take fans all the way back to Kennedy's C86 inspired debut LP. In turn, this results in Horsebeach's most varied and rewarding album to date. A record that inspires and shows growth; a record that makes you appreciate the things you help to keep alive.

Here’s what Ryan (Horsebeach) had to say about the album."I always treat each album as a snapshot of a certain period of my life and Things To Keep Alive is no different. However, it's less of a measure of time and more a snapshot of the mental space I've come to occupy over the past few years.

Fundamentally, this album is about my own struggle with one particular side effect of my mental health. Especially my propensity to long for the sweet release of death. I've come to learn how to deal with these things over time and I have always cared for my many cats, plants and important people close to me. These things bring me great joy and through the fog of my depressed haze I have finally learned to water, feed and care for myself as well. These are the things I keep alive. Musically I've decided to revisit themes from my earlier work but allow myself to open up to sounds I might have restricted from the Horsebeach palette in the past. It's quite a simple album thematically but perhaps the one I'm most proud of to date. I've given myself much longer to write this album and I hope the extra time I’ve spent nurturing each song comes through in the end."

Ryan

STAFF COMMENTS

Andy says: This, the fifth Horsebeach album, is actually my favourite of the whole lot! Then again, I have genuinely preferred every single one to its predecessor so this shouldn’t really be a surprise. But what did surprise me was just how fabulously poppy Ryan has made things, this time around. Every single tune is a heart rending sing along gem from the electro jangle epic opening track right through to the last , and sonically it takes in Shoe Grunge (!?) Smithsonian jangle, Captured Tracks breezy melancholy and also a heavier more driving vibe on occasion . Talking of melancholy: there is plenty on show , but this time , as with the title track, there is now a cautious optimism where once there was desolation . Ryan appears to be saying , there is nourishment and comfort to be had in tending to things and people he loves. Some unsuspecting soul still gets what’s coming on Tradition and another song ends with the line “ I will always let you down” . I don’t believe him though, especially when he can write lines as tender as “ you should never suffer silently/most would say that you belong in poetry/ and I could write your verse” (A Friend by the Lake ) Best of all, is the joyful Beatlesy bounce of the gorgeous Until You. To the sweetest melody ever, Ryan sings: “ I was buried underground /Until you came and swept the dirt aside/you have freed me from the fog that suffocated me/ and I know I’m gonna work it out”. The boy’s in love , and so are we. Classic!

TRACK LISTING

1. A Friend By The Lake
2. In The Shadow Of Her
3. A Fault In All Of Us
4. Things To Keep Alive
5. Let Me Stay In Tonight
6. Until You
7. Cinnamon Challenge
8. Pure Shores
9. Colourless
10. Tradition 

Manchester songwriter Ryan Kennedy returns with his fourth album "The Unforgiving Current". Recorded in and around Tokyo hotel rooms, apartments and studios, the album is a badly lit stroll through Tokyo's winding streets, stopping in only the most questionable bars. Despite its seemingly overpopulated centres, there is often a strange isolation. This Isolation would be the fuel behind "the Unforgiving Current".

After moving to Tokyo early 2018 Kennedy began work on the album. Amidst language and work issues his rosey outlook soon dimmed and what follows is Kennedy's exploration and loneliness in this foreign land. Previous musical similarities may be unearthed but what runs through this record is a vein of (dare I say) mature introspection which sets it apart from previous works.

STAFF COMMENTS

Patrick says: As a man who’s only made it 14 miles in 33 years, I was suitably awestruck when Manchester’s favourite dreamer swapped the greyscale drizzle of his hometown for the 45° summer of Tokyo. Oppressive heat and impressive toilets weren’t the only cause for culture shock though, and despite an intermediate grasp of the language and a really good haircut, Ryan Kennedy quickly tasted the loneliness of a long distance runner. But it’s better to be Alone Together and the Horsebeach discography has always had a therapeutic angle; sonic salve for psychological bruising – take daily for the rest of your life.
So unpacking his mini studio and opening the notebook, the bedroom auteur embarked on his mid-career masterpiece, plunging into lyrical depths on existence, ennui, affection and introspection. His voice, still coloured with the disarming fragility of old, is more mature and confident and the music keeps getting higher and higher. Shades of psychedelia lend a paisley tint to opening volley “‘Net Café Refuge” and “The Unforgiving Current”, while “Dreaming” and “Mourning Thoughts” infuse chiming indie with baggy rhythms and Marvin Gaye grooves. Drum machines and dream pop take the lead at the midpoint, first on the lovestruck “Vanessa” and then in the coastal cool of Balearic combo “Yuuki” and “Trust”, the latter especially indulging in its own brand of louche funk. The final three tracks mark a triumphant return to the pensive jangle and C86 haze of the earliest Horsebeach work, an emphatic reminder that you have to go away before you can come home.

TRACK LISTING

1. Net Cafe Refuge
2. The Unforgiving Current
3. Dreaming
4. Mourning Thoughts
5. Vanessa
6. Yuuki
7. Trust
8. Unlucky Strike
9. Mother
10. Acting