Keaton Henson – ‘Parader’ album review: Turning the volume up with no excuses
Since the start of his career, Keaton Henson has been positioned as the poster boy for sad. But since the start, the label has been a limiting one that’s never done justice to the variety of his talent. On Parader, he’s out to make people realise that.
The Skinny: An acoustic debut. A higher production follow-up made out in Hollywood. A classical record to run away from that, and then back to lyrics again. Some scores, a cover album of pop songs, a foray into being a rockstar, and a retreat into instrumentals again. Keaton Henson’s discography contains a lot, and that doesn’t even touch on his written works, his drawings, his compositions for others and so on.
To simply deem him a maker of ‘sad’ music isn’t enough. What we have here is a truly multifaceted artist who has had the incredible career privilege of simply being let loose and allowed to follow his whims. He’s already followed that in so many directions, all while maintaining the essence of fans first fell in love with. But on Parader, he cares less for them, and more for the younger version of himself who grew up in rock bands, loves heavier music, and finally wants to turn the volume up without excuses.
On House Party, Henson dipped his toes into the water of making a more outright rock record all under the guise of a ‘concept’ album. Throughout his discography, this side of his influences have crept in on thrashing moments like ‘Kronos’ or ‘Don’t Swim’.
But for his ninth album, he’s dropping any pretence that he doesn’t want to rock out and is now simply going for it, enlisting Wednesday producer Alex Farrar to bring that American, garage rock sound.
The Henson-isms are still there, though. Getting sonically louder doesn’t mean that any of the emotion is drowned out as ‘Insomnia’ gets lost in webbing layers of hard memories, ‘Past It’ deals directly with Henson’s conflict towards his own work and his positioning as a depressed and depressing artist, singing, “Do I really have any business now / Singing this song and sounding like I did when I was 18,” before concluding, “As long as I’m living, I may as well write it down.”
Topics of grief, anxiety and fear float in here just as they do across all his works, and on ‘Day In New York’, the sound is stripped back to a desperately tender simplicity fans will be more accustomed to. But even in moments that feel very sonically far out for Henson, it’s always anchored home by the familiar tone of his lyricism.
But really, it’s exactly the fact that Parader feels different that makes it so exciting. There’s a sense of Henson finding the confidence to free himself up and finally go all in on a side of his musicality he’s only tenuously presented before.
The Verdict: What we have here is the Keaton Henson rock album, delivered in a way that feels like him still, but simply introduces another side of the artist who refuses to ever be caged into one feeling, one sound or one form.
Stand out track: ‘Past It’ for the lyrics, ‘Don’t I Just’ for a strong start.
Release date: 21st November 2025 | Producer: Alex Farrar and Luke Sital-Singh | Label: Play It Again Sam
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