There is a yearning constancy to the music of Irish singer-songwriter David Keenan.
It's a yearning that reflects the desire of the everyday man to see and be more, while also seeking contentment in the mundane. Understanding that delicate balance comes only from experience, something the Irishman has in spades.Chasing the dream via ferry from Ireland to London at a tender age, Keenan busked and gigged his way across town, until he returned to his homeland with one less wallet, a pocketful of memories, and full of rugged determination.
His 2020 debut studio album, 'A Beginner's Guide To Bravery', was the biggest selling vinyl record in the country in its release week. The ability to connect with the facets of human nature, the fractured intricacies and latent strumming desire has seen Keenan enamour souls he sees not as fans, but as friends across the globe.
Musing from Sydney over an orange juice, he remarked on the blessing of landing on Australian soil for the first time. "It's been amazing so far. The welcome in Sydney is incredible.
"To get to play in the space where the Chamber Orchestra plays, and the nature. I've got to get in the water, go on some hikes and explore Sydney, so everything's hunky dory thus far. I think I might be relocating here," he jests.
Keenan's shows are an intimate experience of a man alone onstage with his songs, and the connection he has felt in Australia thus far has been special.
"It's pin-drop stuff. To feel like you're in the room with friends, I felt such a welcome. People were there for the first time, some people were there who have kept the music alive for me here over the last three or four years.
"I think of 15-year-old me in the bedroom writing songs on the other side of the world. I'm really grateful. It's not passing me by at all. The room where I played in Sydney is the Neilson Theatre, the space where the Chamber Orchestra plays. I was on a circular stage, and it's just me and the guitar and the song.
"I have maybe 35, 40 songs written on A4 sheets in front of me and I pick one, start and then I go off. There's no real rules, it's just freedom, and there were those pin-drop moments during the set, when people are really listening. You can feel the intensity of the moment when that happens. That's a real gift."
Keenan reflects on the power of music, and the impact music has traversed across his existence, initially as a way to bear his soul openly.
"[Music has made me] more open, for other people and for myself. Music is a gateway drug to a deeper version of reality and imagination as well. You're pulling things up from the subconscious. You can also prophesy things that have yet to occur, because maybe the song's ready to do the talking when you're not.
"Beyond that, it's just a conversation with something deeper, something higher, something truer; and beyond that again, it can just be a companion, something to confide in, a total release. It can be the outlet to express fractured, absurd ideas out onto a canvas of silence.
"So it's given, it's informed and it's educated me and it's so new all the time. It's such an adventure. It's deeper than language. It's something we've been doing for thousands of years, and it protects our individuality, and our universality. It's powerful.
"I can remember singing from the age of four at family gatherings. My father had me as a little mini-me character, and I'd sing these country and western songs about marriage break-ups and owin' the taxman money. It became this outlet for me.
"I had the ability to remember the words of a song after a couple of listens and I started writing maybe about nine or ten. The guitar came later, the words came first. I always felt connected to something bigger than me when I was singing the songs, and to be able to tap into that."
In November, Keenan crossed genres collaborating with Paul Gerard Campbell and the Cassiopeia Wind Quintet, reading his poem 'Only Up' over Campbell's compositions.
"Exploring the interaction between the different forms interests me, because there's commonalities there. It's a conversation, it just presents in a different way. Paul advances these landscapes with his arrangements. He asked me to lend something to his showcase, and I love those intersections where you find common ground with a seemingly different approach.
"We come from the same school of thought, we try to paint pictures and tell the story using music. So it was fascinating to hear the poem and then, in and around it, this world of woodwind and strings. It's an amazing thing to step into that space.
"We're definitely gonna explore more, he might feature on the new album. That kind of music can be such a reprieve, because it's full of fresh air, clean air and space. That can be very soothing in a really hyperactive, oversaturated world."
Protesting the hyperactive, oversaturated world of social media was, incidentally, the theme of Keenan's 2023 single 'Tick Tock', in which he masterfully compares the online arena to the mischievous, dog-eat-dog world of home-town youths.
"Those lyrics are painting a picture: 'A strange silhouette is cast by c...y hooks and the cabal; Polyester shimmers on a sojourn to the bottle bank.' These are things that I see on the way to the recycling bin, these dudes gathering around in polyester tracksuits, the same kind of hair, kind of menacing.
"It's describing a local ring leader, and they've got their acolytes around them, their doppelgängers. You find that with young people, they go in mobs, and I was in them. They're all dressed the same, and that song in particular's exploring the madness of TikTok, the noise of it. There's a 'feralness' to it, a kind of twisted destructiveness. It alters the head. I was seeing this gang of youths here through this twisted lens. It's a study in self-harm with a saturated screen."
Keenan still holds to hope that humanity will come through the digital age with balance. "Where every action, there's a reaction. You ask yourself, 'do I need more organic music? Do I need more nature? Do I need more hyperactive dopamine madness, or maybe do I need both?'"
He reflects on the importance of laying down the dopamine drip, and immersing in the moment. "I think it's so important to have that time and space to dream and to be with yourself, and sit with yourself in quiet and ruminate.
"I get a lot of good ideas when I'm walking, when I'm in motion or on a train, when you're sitting and these things come kind of bubbling up. The gifts of boredom, they're so important.
"When you're sitting or you're lying and all these things come back, 'remember me?'. They're vying for attention. A notepad's always handy to throw all these things into during the day, to address later in the night."
With the release of six singles in the past year a telling indicator that an album is on its way, the choice of recording location may mean scrolling TikTok will be off the cards for some time. "As soon as I get home in boredom, I'm going up a mountain to record this next album. All of these songs are being road tested here for the first time, so it's great."
Keenan has other future plans that include another Australian tour. Perhaps we'll see him at the Sydney Opera House for that round? "Yeah, of course," Keenan laughs.
David Keenan 2024 Tour Dates
Wed 24 Jan - The Gov (Adelaide)Sat 27 Jan - George Lane (Melbourne)
Tue 30 Jan - The Triffid (Brisbane)
Wed 31 Jan - Brunswick Ballroom (Melbourne)
Fri 2 Feb - Meeniyan Hall (Gippsland)
