Born and raised in Oldham in the north-west of England, Keeley 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 (e.g., the role of the woman who poses as a teacher in ‘Happy Valley’), 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.
”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.”
With sparse arrangements by pianist and composer Matthew Bourne and producer Sam Hobbs and contributions by Mark Cresswell, 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, who also gave ‘Debris’ its first radio play on BBC 6 Music. ‘Start Again’ found its way onto the BBC 6 Music playlist.
Reviews for Debris@
“An astonishing debut” Uncut 8/10
“Forsyth’s album Debris is one of the most remarkable in years” The Sunday Times
“A shivery descendent of Scott Walker’s Tilt, a more unsettling older sister of Aldous Harding’s Designer” The Guardian
“One of the defining releases of 2020 may already be upon us” Music OMH 9/10
Tracklisting:
1.Debris
2.Black Bull
3.It’s Raining
4.Look To Yourself
5.Lost
6.Butterfly
7.Large Oak
8.Start Again
