Today, Fears, the musical vehicle of rising Irish artist, musician, and producer Constance Keane, shares the hauntingly beautiful single + video “16,” featuring, and dedicated to, her late close friend and cellist, Sophie Gwen Williams. The video is directed by Zoe Greenway, who performs in punk band M(h)aol alongside Keane. Fears is also an official artist at this year’s SXSW.

 
Amongst the rolling beats that are influenced by the traditional Irish drum, the plucked strings of Williams’ cello are contrasted by the hushed angelic vocals of Keane, whose lyrics reflect on a difficult past relationship and the freedom that hindsight offers. Williams’ instrumentals on the tender track were recorded for a filmed performance from the one and only time they got to play the track together. 
 
Williams was an acclaimed performance artist, classically trained musician, and trans rights activist from Northern Ireland who co-founded We Exist, a charity which raises vital funds to help trans people across the UK pay for healthcare costs. She was also the chair and one of the original members of The 343, a Belfast-based queer art collective. She also founded 343 radio, which is Ireland’s first ever queer radio.

Fears says, “Sophie was an incredible artist and a very close friend of mine. We did a filmed performance together last March, thinking we’d get a chance to record it properly in a studio, but she passed away before we could. Zoe and I dedicate the video for ‘16’ to her memory. I had made her a dress for the original performance out of pink tulle – the same fabric I have with me in the video. She was a really inspirational and encouraging person, and I wanted to create something that shows how I carry her with me, even though I no longer have her physically here.” 
 
Greenway filmed Fears in The Maharees in County Kerry in South-West Ireland, an area Keane visited frequently with her family growing up. Keane adds, “It’s a very special place to me, and I’ve always wanted to shoot there, so this seemed like the perfect opportunity.”
 
Combining reflective electronics, acoustic samples, and haunting vocals with organic visuals, Fears invites the listener on an ethereal journey, blurring the boundaries between music and visual art. Her minimalist approach centers on emotive subjects, which are all-at-once deeply personal yet remarkably universal. Her debut album Oíche, meaning ‘night’ in Irish, was recorded and produced in three bedrooms, a hospital, and most recently, in the Domino Recordings studio in Brixton. Pieced together over five years, Oíche chronicles growth through challenges, instability, and relationship changes, both with one’s self and others. The album reveals itself much like a coming of age novel about the breaking apart of girlhood and rebuilding of a young woman. An intimate depiction of discovery, Oíche unearths internal dialogue, and makes peace with uncertainty.

Photo Courtesy: Bríd O’Donovan