Friday 15 November 2013

Keaton Henson - Saint Eustache

When Kathleen was at her last internship at a music record label in Paris she was constantly sending me youtube videos of relatively unknown male singers strumming away to songs about the sea and boats. I have a massive soft spot for this kinda stuff.

My music taste tends to be relatively mainstream. However my playlist labelled 'husky men to serenade my ears with beautiful and meaningful melodies' is rather extensive. Kathleen knows how much I love this sort of music so invited me to a Keaton Henson gig in Paris. 

The morning of the gig I sent a text saying 'Okay, where are we meeting tonight?'. I was surprised to find we were heading to Eglise Saint Eustache, an enormous Gothic church in the centre of Les Halles- a pretty dodgy area if I'm honest. 

I've seen my mum put on a play in a Church so I kind of knew what to expect: a very haunting and emotional performance. That, and also that it was going to be bloody cold.


So I headed after work to Les Halles, wrapped up snuggly and warm in my new Zara coat.
After queueing for about 20 minutes outside we all shuffled in to the church and pulled up a pew (I wish- it was actually just a chair).




I didn't really know what to expect from the music. To be honest I hadn't even checked out any of his songs before I went, but in a way this made it far more exciting.


After about 20 mins of silent whispering, the lights dimmed and we all shushed like well-behaved school children.



The red lighting almost gave it a sinister feel. I had to stop myself from thinking these are what the gates of hell would look like.



I was really pleasantly surprised by his music. He had a beautiful tone to his voice and his shyness was incredibly endearing, only muttering the odd 'This place is incroyable' between songs before cowering behind his huge beard. Kathleen had told me before that he is often too timid to do interviews so it wasn't like I was expecting a Robbie- Williams lookalike bounding onto the stage screaming "I'm Keaton F****** Henson!!!!!"

I am not an expertise on reviewing music at all. In fact, I know practically nothing about music, expect what I like and what I don't like. I have the feeling though this is similar to a lot of people.

I can't really explain his music in any other way apart from that it made me feel like I've just come out of a massage. It was the most relaxing this ever, the only thing that could've made it better was a hot water bottle and a back tickle. 

His lyrics were uncomplicated, and romantically simple. And I liked it a lot. Especially his rendition of Hallelujah and the end. Movies, Music and Books rarely make me cry, but his lyrics were so relatable and he sung with such emotional conviction that I had to stifle a little gasp for air so I didn't start blubbing. 

Here's the Youtube video for his album Dear. Please listen to it in bed with a hot water bottle and if you have a nice enough friend/boyfriend/girlfriend/granny, ask for a back tickle. I can promise you you will feel completely and utterly content. Please ignore this if you're going through a break up. I would highly NOT recommend this for emotional wrecks.


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