New Music: Helen Keller

           

Placebo shares a surprising new single "Helen Keller. The track takes its cue from hidden 1996 instrumental "H.K. Farewell", while the band begin their 30th anniversary tour today. The new track was a hidden instrumental from the era of their self-titled 1996 debut, using its eerie keyboard melody as the foundation for an otherwise entirely new song. Recorded in London earlier this year, "Helen Keller" was produced by Placebo and Adam Noble, with the latter also handling mixing. It retains the spectral atmosphere of "H.K. Farewell" but pushes the idea into a heavier, more anguished rock setting. This is a new rock song inspired by the piano melody from "H.K. Farewell" and named after one of my favourite people from history, Brian Molko said of the track. Keller was the American author, disability rights advocate and political activist who became deafblind as a young child and went on to become an internationally renowned writer and campaigner. Describing the project as a director’s cut, the band said it allowed them to bring three decades of performing the material back into the recordings while maintaining the spirit of the originals.