Photo credit: @devilsayshoot
The wait is over. After several years supporting acclaimed Irish artists such as CMAT, Jack L and Hothouse Flowers, folk pop singer Sarah Keane has finally released her anticipated debut album ‘Something Bigger’. With the album release, Sarah shares the lead single from the record, ‘Exist’.
Written by Sarah, the album was produced by Galway based Dave Skelton (Aimee Carty) and mastered by Aidan Foley (Sinéad O’Connor, U2). The nine track album is described by Keane as a ‘reflective exploration of life, loss, and self-discovery’. An existential, coming of age story, ‘Something Bigger’ chronicles Keane’s journey to find meaning in her life, and Keane takes inspiration from real life experiences to craft lyrics that cover a wide range of topics.
The LP showcases Sarah’s distinctive vocals and trademark acoustic guitar, alongside unique piano and orchestral textures. The album includes previously released singles “June”, “Letters” and “Thunder & Lightning”, which all received national radio airplay, including on RTE Radio 1, Hot Press and BBC Northern Ireland.
Creating something organic and authentic was particularly front of mind for Keane, as she also has a prominent role with AI:OK, an organisation focused on promoting human creativity in the era of AI. “I believe AI can be an excellent tool, in life generally and also in music. There’s wonderful use cases out there for the technology” she says. “However, it’s important that we protect human creators and the music industry as a whole. It’s something that should be used responsibly, and we need to act now, before the damage is irreversible”. The exponential progress of the technology and some of the extreme predictions that are becoming increasingly unanimously agreed add a whole new dimension to the album’s title “Something Bigger”.
Accompanying today’s announcement is the release of the lead single from the album, ‘Exist’, a simple and catchy song that is described by Keane ‘as an optimistically nihilistic track’. Speaking about the song, Keane says: ‘It’s easy to take things too seriously, searching for our purpose or the “right” thing, I’m as guilty as anyone! But it’s good to remind ourselves from time to time we’re all just on this floating rock, and none of us asked to be here. Maybe it’s not that deep!’
To celebrate the launch of the new album, Sarah has a headline show at Crowbar Terrace at the Button Factory, Dublin on November 14th, which is now sold out.
