Keeley Forsyth follows up her critically lauded debut album, Debris, with the Photograph EP. Across four tracks the domestic tensions remain, albeit taking a more introspective view. Forsyth’s striking vocals are cocooned within otherworldly synthesisers - they transport her words across continents before snapping back to the room. The walls closing in. There’s an aching sense of detachment, which resonates with the circumstances in which it was written. “I always work from home,” Forsyth explains. “This time, the isolation had a new influence on my lyrical ideas. I was contemplating the idea of homesickness within the home; when life is lived on the domestic grid, in rooms and in tasks. I was looking to reframe the day, to give sound to the picture.” Photograph takes two steps on from Debris’ electronic closer ‘Start Again’. Continuing the fruitful working relationship with composer Matthew Bourne and bringing Trestle Records’ Ross Downes into the fray, it hints at the vast possibilities open to Forsyth on her next album, and also brings the late period Scott Walker comparisons into focus, with traditional song structures giving way to something more expansive. Cloaked in darkness but seeking surreal beauty and art in the debris of modern life.

Follow-up to the excellent 'Debris' album. Skeletal arrangements frame Keeley's startling voice and lyricism. 'Photograph' maybe extends the electronics a little but without ever losing its emphatically human framework. For fans of Nico, This Mortal Coil, Robert Wyatt. This is great...

By Adam