David Keenan breaks himself open on new album 'Modern Mythologies'

Irish singer-songwriter David Keenan has always written like someone wholly enthralled by the magic hidden in ordinary days. But 'Modern Mythologies' feels like the moment his vision sharpens. It’s the sound of an artist stepping out of the fire with both hands full of stories, determined to make sense of a life that has refused to sit still.

Across these twelve songs, Keenan trades in fragments of recovery, jagged memories, street-corner saints, and the private wars we wage when no one is looking. What emerges is a sweeping, intensely human record that pulls ancient sensibilities into the here-and-now, stitching folklore to fractured culture.

There’s a striking clarity to his writing this time. Tracks like 'Poison Water' and 'Amelioration' read like dispatches from the edge of transformation, but still guided by belief in renewal. You can feel him wrestling ghosts, dragging them gently into the light rather than banishing them outright.

And then there’s 'Incandescent Morning', the album’s closer and molten centre. A slow-burning devotional, it glows with a kind of sacred intimacy, like dawn creeping across a bed shared by two people who’ve stopped running from themselves. His voice breaks in all the right places; where every line lands like a confession whispered into warm skin, and it might be the most luminous thing he’s ever written.

Sonically, 'Modern Mythologies' thrives in the space between earth and ether. Co-producers Gavin Glass, Peter Baldwin, and Cian Synnott help build a world that’s lived-in but cinematic; using brushed percussion, trembling guitars, stirring strings, and arrangements that expand and contract like breath. There’s grit here, but also light shaped by years of turbulence and the slow, stubborn climb back toward hope.

Fans of his more narrative work will gravitate toward pieces like 'We Live, We Learn, We Love', where Keenan’s gift for character sketches and lived detail is in full bloom. Elsewhere, songs like 'Rebel Tune' sharpen the emotional blade, capturing the tension between despair and defiance.

What makes this album extraordinary is its emotional honesty. He doesn’t mythologise himself; he dismantles the myth, then builds something truer in its place. Recovery is treated as a continual unfolding, and self-inquiry becomes a form of faith.

'Modern Mythologies' is the work of an artist who has lived through the collapse of old selves, found humour in the rubble, and still believes in the healing force of song. It’s an invitation to look at your own reflection and recognise both the monster and the miracle staring back.