Keeley Forsyth

Keeley Forsyth is a singer, composer, and actress from Oldham, UK. Having trained as a dancer and in dramatic arts, she has focused on a parallel career as a unique and uncompromising new presence in contemporary music.

Based on the raw emotionality of her singular vocal ability and striking physical performance, Keeley's world-building has a steely sense of purpose and stark beauty. It is a sound unto itself, feeling its way between contemporary classical, folk and sacred music. Her work probes beneath the veneer of everyday life to explore often dark and weighty themes, seeking deeper truths and motivations. Shining a light through that darkness, a 2020 Guardian feature suggested that "Forsyth’s voice marries Peggy Lee’s bluesy vibrato with Nico’s thunderous terror, and delivers lyrics that invert nature, as a way of exploring despair.”

Described by Pitchfork as “an arid and beautiful debut”, by Uncut as "astonishing" and by The Sunday Times as "one of the most remarkable in years”, Keeley's debut album Debris was released in 2020 and followed by 2022’s Limbs. Both records drew unanimous critical praise, prompting comparisons with Nico, Nick Cave, Portishead’s Beth Gibbons, Aldous Harding, Anohni and even Scott Walker. It is often stated that no one else is making music quite like this. The iconoclastic nature of Keeley’s sound finds disparate influences from various music genres without seeming to belong to one itself.

Unconcerned with current trends, Keeley is seeking sound and content that is timeless. In Spring 2024, she released her third studio album The Hollow, on FatCat Records' 130701 imprint, which was described by critics as her most compelling and accomplished collection yet.

"What a bloody phenomenal album, in a space all of its own" The Quietus

"Forsyth paints her world's rugged beauty in tones that could stop listeners dead" 4/5 Mojo

"Transfixing, Beautifully bleak" 8/10 Uncut

“Gripping in its intensity and theatricality” 4/5 The Financial Times

Keeley's live shows are animated with a captivating physicality with a focus on movement that references both theatre and performance art. The engrossing performances suggest the edge-of-reason existential intensity of Samuel Beckett, Antonin Artaud's Theatre Of Cruelty and the neo-expressionist choreography of Pina Bausch, all delivered within a minimal monochromatic setting. She has left an indelible mark on stages around the world, including Unsound, Dark Mofo, Le Guess Who?, CTM, Rewire and Donau. A magnetic presence, she transcends regular stagecraft and live conventions to produce an immersive ceremonial experience, drawing the audience into a world of her own manifesting that is incredibly moving. Within this, Keeley forges connections that are simultaneously fierce and tender, invoking primal, animalistic energy with moments of ethereal softness. She defies easy categorisation, embodying spoken word and deftly manipulating her soniclandscape, unwilling to be confined by conventional artistic boundaries or expectations.

In recent years, Keeley has worked with esteemed collaborators, including Louis Carnell, Ben Frost, Colin Stetson, Teho Teardo, Gazelle Twin, Evelyn Glennie, Yann Tiersen, among others. She has soundtracked Maxine Peake’s directorial debut, developed a unique performance piece commissioned as part of her 2022 New Music Biennial award and is developing an opera alongside Ben Frost. Keeley continues to occasionally act for film and TV, with 2023 finding her appearing in Jessica Hausner’s dark satire 'Club Zero' as well as in Yorgos Lanthimos’s celebrated and multi-award winning 'Poor Things’. 2026 will see the release of a major film franchise, which Keeley is currently shooting.