No tough second album syndrome

DAVID Keenan is having a busy week — playing his first Irish headline show post-pandemic in Belfast, before the release of his second album today.

The Co Louth singer- songwriter is also speaking to Tony Clayton-Lea tonight as part of a Culture Vulture night of discussion.

WHAT THEN? is the follow-up to Keenan’s 2020 debut album A Beginner’s Guide To Bravery, which charted at number one on the official Irish Independent Album Charts, number six in the official National Album Charts and was one of the bestselling vinyl album releases by an Irish artist in 2020.

Keenan may have spent the last year missing live connection, but he managed to launch the record with a sold-out concert at the Olympia Theatre in Dublin.

The resulting concert film Alchemy & Prose debuted at the London Doc’N’Roll Festival last November, and was accompanied by a limited-edition live album, released for Record Store Day 2020.

When his touring plans were halted by the pandemic, he released three lo- fi Isolation author David Keenan, Irish poet Stephen Murphy and US drummer Aaron Steele, best known for his work with Hayley Williams and Portugal.

WHAT THEN is a more ambitious widescreen follow-up to his debut, like he’s been bingeing on the Waterboys and Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds — and after he played Belfast this wednesday, fans will get to hear the songs up close when he plays around the country towards the end of the year.

“WHAT THEN?” is out now. David Keenan discusses his new album with Tony Clayton-Lea at a Culture Vultures event. Keenan plays Cyprus Avenue, Cork on December 6; Dolan’s in Limerick on the 8th; Roisin Dubh in Galway on the 9th; Spirit Store in Dundalk on the 10th, and Dublin’s Olympia on the 12th.