Keaton Henson + The Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra: Initium
Straying from the typical folk releases fans have come to expect from him, Keaton Henson taps The Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra for the first “movement” from his classical album Six Lethargies. It’s Henson’s first release since 2016, shortly after halting his tour circuit—citing a sense of overwhelming anxiety when performing. “Initium,” as Henson explains, is a “perfect expressionistic representation of a human’s desperate attempt to stay afloat and breathe among the chaos.” The orchestra performs the nine-minute arrangement while Mark Knoop conducts and a one-take scene of rolling ocean waves unfolds. It’s delicate, elegant, haunting and masterful all at once and marks the beginning of the six-part project set to be released via Mercury KX.
