You may have previously noticed Catskills singer-songwriter Keenan O'Meara on the periphery of this website, listed in passing as an opener for Zach Bryan's stadium tour or directing a video for fellow Upstate New York folkie Hannah Cohen. Today, let's move him to center stage for a moment.
About a month from now, O'Meara will release his debut album Bathe In The Everlasting Light, which includes contributions from Cohen, Sam Evian, Meg Lui, and none other than Sufjan Stevens. As the story goes, the group submitted songs to each other and offered mutual feedback during a furious three-week writing streak a few years back that also yielded Stevens' Javelin. Now O'Meara's compositions are getting a proper LP showcase, and boy do they deserve.
Today he shares "Halley's Comet," a lush and rustic acoustic ballad that gives O'Meara's vocals a chance to shine. I can't tell if I prefer the robust sound of his normal register or the falsetto he launches into on the chorus. His voice has some Devendra Banhart to it, but it's more grounded, less whimsical, always return to the refrain "I’ll get hung up on the past/ I'll beat myself up." The eerie guitar solo in the middle reminds me of the Flaming Lips or Beach House. It's all exceptionally well done.
Check out "Halley's Comet" below, and you might as well stick around for prior singles "God’s Last Hunter," "Devil Never Said Her Name," and "Please Leave The Light On."
Bathe In The Everlasting Light is out 6/26 on Belting Bronco. Pre-order it here.
