Bios & promo — benchmark artistes

Kenniff graduated from Berklee College of Music in 2006 with a B.A. in percussion and composition. In 2004, Unomia, Kenniff's first album under the moniker 'Helios', was released. This was followed by the critically acclaimed album Eingya in 2006. His third album, Caesura, was released in 2008. Kenniff also records and performs music for solo piano under the name Goldmund, for which he has six releases on Unseen Music, Type Records, and Western Vinyl. He has toured and performed extensively throughout the US, Europe, Japan and Canada. He has an indie rock/shoegaze band with his wife under the name Mint Julep. In late 2010, they released an EP called "Adorn". The band followed up with the release of their first album, Save Your Season, in 2011. The Kenniffs also have a children's music project, Meadows (inspired by the couple's young son), whose debut album, The Littlest Star was released in mid-2011.

Pennsylvania native Keith Kenniff's output as Goldmund has established him as one of the preeminent composers of minimal piano-based ambient music alongside peers like Hauschka, Dustin O'Halloran, and even Ryuichi Sakamoto, who himself once described Kenniff's work as "so, so, so beautiful". Hyperbolic as it may sound, Goldmund's newest collection Occasus may be his most exquisite yet. Where his previous recordings trod faithfully and sincerely on paths of dimly lit, polaroid-esque nostalgia, Occasus deepens the undeniable aesthetic that was hard-won over eight previous Goldmund albums, while expanding the palette to include desultory clouds of synthesizer and a tastefully distressed analog sheen. The word Occasus means downfall, end, or the rising and falling of heavenly bodies. The title is apt in more ways than one: while the emotional tone of the album denotes bittersweet feelings of conclusiveness, it also perfectly soundtracks the quiet moments when we look up to the sky, and humbly relearn the smallness of our lives as cosmic objects churn slowly overhead with bewitching indifference. Occasus feels deeply personal, private, and hushed yet simultaneously grand, colossal, and profound. Remarkably Kenniff is able to capture micro and macro with equal fidelity. Tangential to prior Goldmund material, there are a few moments of Occasus that feel dark and menacing like "No Story" and "Thread", both of which broach urgent paranoia, and provide a refreshing counterweight to the idyll typical of the project. Kenniff's music has always been unquestionably gorgeous, but seeing it set against an occasionally manic backdrop makes the moments of light shine that much brighter. Even when elements of Occasus play by the rules harmonically, they tend to unfold with a satisfying level of rhythmical disregard. "I like mistakes, I like when things don't go perfectly," says Kenniff of his wabi-sabi ethos, "I do have a tendency to want for things to be perfect and precise, but I have to also realize that a lot of things I like about music and art are very rough and impulsive, the slight imperfections that give something or someone a unique voice." To that end there are few artistic voices as distinct as Goldmund's. Using only a few simple ingredients (piano, synthesizer, reverb, and a little more) Kenniff's sound has become so universal that you'd be forgiven for not knowing who it belongs to. Knock offs be damned, every Goldmund recording is cut from an inimitable fabric woven out of emotional intelligence, honesty, vivid imagination, and skillful restraint. Occasus is another strong chapter in an ever more gratifying catalog.

Keith Kenniff is a multi-instrumentalist and composer from Maine. He graduated with honors from Berklee College of Music in 2006 with a degree in percussion, and shortly after began composing for advertising, film, and television. In 2011 he provided music for Apple's iPhone 4S campaign directed by Mark Romanek, followed by high-profile work for Google, Amazon, Instagram, Starbucks, and Facebook. His credits include Facebook's 10 Years Look Back project and Dove's Real Beauty Sketches, created by Ogilvy & Mather, which became the most-viewed ad of all time and won 19 Cannes Lions including the Titanium Grand Prix in 2014. Keith has composed for numerous HBO series, among them The Runaway Bunny, The Number on Great-Grandpa's Arm, and Song of Parkland, the last of which won Primetime Emmy Awards in 2018 and 2020. His documentary work includes the acclaimed Blood Brother, winner of the Sundance Grand Jury Prize, the Emmy-nominated Blood Road, and the award-winning Emanuel. Since 2004, he has released over 20 albums under the monikers Helios, Goldmund, and Mint Julep.

A Pennsylvanian by birth, Keith Kenniff is an honors graduate of Boston's esteemed Berklee College of Music, best known as the ambient/electronic practitioner Helios and post-classical piano minimalist music as Goldmund (the latter's music once described by no less an authority than Ryuichi Sakamoto as "…so, so, so beautiful…"). Together with his wife Hollie, Keith also records as Mint Julep, and the two released their debut album "Save Your Season" which NME coined as "Unquestionably Beautiful". A succession of albums under those aliases has made Kenniff the darling of discerning critics and his music has been widely used in film, tv and advertising, for clients such as Apple, Facebook, Google, Paramount, MTV and Warner Brothers. Licensing inquiry? Please visit www.unseen-music.com or email keith@unseen-music.com

Pennsylvania native Keith Kenniff's output as Goldmund has established him as one of the preeminent composers of minimal piano-based ambient music alongside peers like Hauschka, Dustin O'Halloran, and even Ryuichi Sakamoto, who himself once described Kenniff's work as "so, so, so beautiful". Hyperbolic as it may sound, Goldmund's newest collection Occasus may be his most exquisite yet. Where his previous recordings trod faithfully and sincerely on paths of dimly lit, polaroid-esque nostalgia, Occasus deepens the undeniable aesthetic that was hard-won over eight previous Goldmund albums, while expanding the palette to include desultory clouds of synthesizer and a tastefully distressed analog sheen. The word Occasus means downfall, end, or the rising and falling of heavenly bodies. The title is apt in more ways than one: while the emotional tone of the album denotes bittersweet feelings of conclusiveness, it also perfectly soundtracks the quiet moments when we look up to the sky, and humbly relearn the smallness of our lives as cosmic objects churn slowly overhead with bewitching indifference. Occasus feels deeply personal, private, and hushed yet simultaneously grand, colossal, and profound. Remarkably Kenniff is able to capture micro and macro with equal fidelity. Tangential to prior Goldmund material, there are a few moments of Occasus that feel dark and menacing like "No Story" and "Thread", both of which broach urgent paranoia, and provide a refreshing counterweight to the idyll typical of the project. Kenniff's music has always been unquestionably gorgeous, but seeing it set against an occasionally manic backdrop makes the moments of light shine that much brighter. Even when elements of Occasus play by the rules harmonically, they tend to unfold with a satisfying level of rhythmical disregard. "I like mistakes, I like when things don't go perfectly," says Kenniff of his wabi-sabi ethos, "I do have a tendency to want for things to be perfect and precise, but I have to also realize that a lot of things I like about music and art are very rough and impulsive, the slight imperfections that give something or someone a unique voice." To that end there are few artistic voices as distinct as Goldmund's. Using only a few simple ingredients (piano, synthesizer, reverb, and a little more) Kenniff's sound has become so universal that you'd be forgiven for not knowing who it belongs to. Knock offs be damned, every Goldmund recording is cut from an inimitable fabric woven out of emotional intelligence, honesty, vivid imagination, and skillful restraint. Occasus is another strong chapter in an ever more gratifying catalog.

Modern classical project of composer and producer Keith Kenniff, also known for his soundtrack work and his ambient electronic moniker Helios.

Keith Kenniff is a Canadian-American composer, multi-instrumentalist, and electronic music producer. He composes ambient/electronic music under the moniker Helios and post-classical piano music under Goldmund. He records and performs music for solo piano under the name Goldmund, for which he has six releases on Unseen Music, Type Records, and Western Vinyl. He has toured and performed extensively throughout the US, Europe, Japan and Canada.

Keith Kenniff is a multi-instrumentalist and composer from Maine. He graduated with honors from Berklee College of Music in 2006 with a degree in percussion, and shortly after began composing for advertising, film, and television. In 2011 he provided music for Apple's iPhone 4S campaign directed by Mark Romanek, followed by high-profile work for Google, Amazon, Instagram, Starbucks, and Facebook.