More about: Keaton Henson

After a surprise comeback single with 'Career Day' in May, Keaton Henson has today returned with a second offering. 'Ontario' is a sombre, beautiful ballad from a man who is seemingly filled to the brim with them.

With a solemn organ path to bear it forward, Henson's vulnerable voice pours forth his ever-poignant poetry, this time analysing the healing powers of cold Canadian winters. "Now I am free here in the trees" he notes, taking deep breaths as he walks in a wonderland.

Sounds of bird wings conflate with pastoral synth to lift the song from its funeral march and into a light, almost religious plane.

On his love for Ontario, Henson notes: “I have found great solace in the icy winds of Canada. Where, upon opening the door in the morning, the instant freezing of your skin takes any lingering sleeplessness and unreason from you, making you move forward, no matter what else is going on.

It is an ode to that landscape, and a portrait of a place I find beautiful, albeit strange.”

After the release of his Six Lethargies symphony in 2019, Henson has returned to pairing his poetry with synth and strings. Expect more.

More about: Keaton Henson