David Keenan

David Keenan sounds like a ghost from the 1960s Greenwich Village scene who somehow ended up in modern-day Louth. His music is built on a foundation of percussive acoustic guitar and a voice that swings wildly from a hushed, conspiratorial whisper to a full-throated, theatrical roar. It is folk music, but it carries the DNA of the Beat poets and the grit of the Irish literary tradition, feeling both ancient and urgently contemporary.

What sets him apart is his absolute commitment to the performance. He doesn't just sing songs; he inhabits characters and landscapes, using a vocal style that is highly idiosyncratic and deeply expressive. There is a sense of 'theatre of the mind' in his arrangements, where a simple violin swell or a sudden shift in tempo can turn a quiet ballad into a sprawling epic. It is music for people who value lyrics as much as melody.

Start with 'A Beginner's Guide to Bravery' to hear him at his most definitive. It captures the transition from a street-level troubadour to a sophisticated composer without losing the raw, bleeding-heart honesty that made his early EPs so compelling. It is the perfect entry point into his world of modern mythologies and barroom philosophy.