Declan McKenna

Declan McKenna just announced that his second album “Zeros” will be released on May 15th on Tomplicated Records via Q Prime. The album, produced by Jay Joyce with mixing by Spike Stent, was recorded in Nashville and is his first since his critically acclaimed debut, 2017’s “What Do You Think About The Car?” The first single from this forthcoming collection is “Beautiful Faces.” The song and video, directed by Will Hopper (Idles, Slaves, Marika Hackman), are emblematic of the album, and blur reality with the virtual façade which overlays it.

When asked about song and album, McKenna explains, “In terms of my artistic development, it feels a major step on from my first record. With this album, if I’m performing as a character, I wanted it to give it everything- all the artists that I love like Dylan, Nick Cave or Bowie, are great storytellers because they give their characters really intense, sometimes strange voices. ‘Beautiful Faces’ is about young people in the modern world and how intimidating it can be. How scary it is to see so much and feel as though you’re doing so little, so I wanted it to be a big song… Scary big. It very much relates to now, but I wanted to reimagine social media in this future-sphere where it has become even more immersive so that we cannot see where it ends, and we begin. It’s a song about aesthetic beauty – literal beauty- but also the false power we give to people and relinquish from ourselves.”

21-year-old English singer-songwriter, Mckenna initially gained recognition for winning the Glastonbury Festival's Emerging Talent Competition in 2015. He self-released the song "Brazil", a protest song criticizing FIFA and the 2014 FIFA World Cup held in Brazil, as his first single in 2014. It gained recognition after its re-release in August 2015. He released his debut album 2017 and went onto make appearances at the Coachella and Lollapalooza festivals.

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