{"id":913181,"date":"2026-09-28T19:40:13","date_gmt":"2026-09-28T19:40:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/913181\/"},"modified":"2026-09-28T19:40:13","modified_gmt":"2026-09-28T19:40:13","slug":"check-out-the-brooding-new-single-helen-keller-from-placebo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/913181\/","title":{"rendered":"Check out the brooding new single \u2018Helen Keller\u2019 from Placebo"},"content":{"rendered":"

Placebo<\/a> have shared a brooding new single called \u2018Helen Keller\u2019 as they kick off their 30th anniversary tour<\/a> today (September 28).<\/p>\n

The new track sees the band reach back to \u2018H.K. Farewell\u2019, 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.<\/p>\n

Recorded in London earlier this year, \u2018Helen Keller\u2019 was produced by Placebo and Adam Noble, with the latter also handling mixing. It retains the spectral atmosphere of \u2018H.K. Farewell\u2019 but pushes the idea into a heavier, more anguished rock setting.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a new rock song inspired by the piano melody from \u2018H.K. Farewell\u2019 and named after one of my favourite people from history,\u201d Brian Molko<\/a> said of the track.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Listen to \u2018Helen Keller\u2019 here:<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

The single continues Placebo\u2019s celebrations around the 30th anniversary of their debut. In June, they released \u2018Placebo RE\u2019<\/a>, for which Molko and Stefan Olsdal returned to the original master tapes and reworked all 10 songs from the 1996 record, alongside \u2018Drowning By Numbers\u2019 and \u2018H.K. Farewell\u2019.<\/p>\n

Describing the project as a \u201cdirector\u2019s cut\u201d, 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.<\/p>\n

They previously previewed the project with a heavier version of \u2018Bruise Pristine\u2019<\/a> and a revamped \u2018Lady Of The Flowers\u2019<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Placebo\u2019s anniversary tour begins at the Super Bock Arena in Porto tonight (September 28) and will see them focus exclusively on material from \u2018Placebo\u2019 and 1998\u2019s \u2018Without You I\u2019m Nothing\u2019<\/a>, reviving some songs that have not been performed live in more than two decades.<\/p>\n

After an extensive run across Europe, the band will reach the UK and Ireland in late November and early December, playing Nottingham, Glasgow, Dublin, Manchester, London and Cardiff. See all the dates here and find any remaining tickets here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Earlier this month, Placebo also announced a 2027 Latin American leg<\/a>, beginning in S\u00e3o Paulo on February 20 and running through Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Peru and Colombia before wrapping up with shows in Guadalajara and Monterrey in March.<\/p>\n

Their most recent album of entirely new material remains 2022\u2019s \u2018Never Let Me Go\u2019<\/a>. In a four-star review, NME described it as \u201ca renaissance rock record with an experimental edge\u201d, adding that it found Placebo \u201cinspired and ready for a new era\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Placebo have shared a brooding new single called \u2018Helen Keller\u2019 as they kick off their 30th anniversary tour…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":913182,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[49,48,75,1645,341],"class_list":["post-913181","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-entertainment","tag-indie","tag-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/913181","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=913181"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/913181\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/913182"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=913181"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=913181"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=913181"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}