David Keenan on arts role in life & death (Bonus)

The New Exchange with Ken Grand-Pierre

It seriously brings me so much joy getting to welcome another artist from Ireland onto the podcast. David Keenan is a singer-songwriter who in many ways is an unabashed maverick. His arrangements and singing styles tend to go against the conventional structures of western pop music, and yet his music still has an accessibility factor that allows his art to be embraced by the masses. The thing that’s impressed me the most about David’s art is how he’s achieved this without ever compromising his vision; which is part of what we explore on today’s podcast. How does our need and desire for art shift in a time when the world is in utter disarray? We also chat in-depth about the difficult yet liberating work that comes with making a body of work that reflects who you are (in the form of David’s second album ‘WHAT THEN?’ and his upcoming third album, Crude (which will be out on November 11th).

We also have a talk about David’s friend/bandmate, Gar Kane, who sadly passed away in October 2020. In tribute to Gar’s life, David wrote/released a song called His Name Was Gar Kane, which you can find via Bandcamp. Be sure to purchase the song, since all proceeds go to Gar’s widow and children.