Yaelokre’s Keath Ósk launches new solo era with debut album ‘Foreword’ and experimental single ‘And The Hound’

Yaelokre‘s Keath Ósk has launched a new solo era, announcing debut album ‘Foreword’ with the experimental single ‘And The Hound’. Check it out, along with live tour details, below. READ MORE: The NME 100 of 2026 – see the full list Set for release on September 4 via Atlantic Records (pre-order here), ‘Foreword’ marks a new chapter for Keath Ósk, and sees them re-record and reimagine the songs that they originally released under the Yaelokre moniker. While the original releases saw the Filipino-Icelandic singer-songwriter, illustrator, and multimedia creator lean into traditional acoustic indie-folk and mythological themes, the new versions under their own name and identity will see them push the boundaries of their sound. The subtle, intricate, otherworldly sound of the Yaelokre has been swapped out for a “beguiling, desert-noir brass backdrop”, and generally there are more rich sonic landscapes in place. Keath Ósk ‘Foreword’ album The first preview of the album comes with the new version of ‘And The Hound’ – where the previously-delicate single becomes larger than life and more dramatic than ever before. “‘And The Hound’ has always been my favourite out of all of the songs that I released as Yaelokre,” said Ósk. “I just kept adding more and more into it. I added more lyrics to it, I kept singing it differently every single time and I expanded it from that. It helped me a lot to stay creative, and I felt the need to honor it in this way.” Recommended For the album, Ósk worked with South London–based writer, producer and composer Jack Hardman (a.k.a. Good Dog), and added more brass instruments, woodwinds, and nods to alt-pop, hip-hop, and jazz. They also recorded a cover of Bonnie Tyler’s ‘80s classic, ‘Holding Out For A Hero’. “These songs were written when I was a teenager,” Ósk explained. “Yaelokre started up quite abruptly, and I didn’t have the resources to actually accomplish the songs in the way I wanted them to be. But now I’m at a comfortable point in my life where I can have fun and input my personal style into it. “I feel like it’s a really good way to close the first chapter of Yaelokre and introduce me coming into music in my own right.” The ‘Foreword’ tracklist is: ‘Hartebeest’ ‘Harpy Hare’ ‘And The Hound’ ‘Neath The Grove Is a heart’ ‘My Farewells To The Fields’ ‘Bird Bage Blue And Yellow’ ‘Kid & Leveret’ ‘To Douse A Scalded Tongue’ ‘Kamahalan’ ‘Keath’s Response’ ‘Hearken’ ‘Holding Out For A Hero’ Keath Ósk will embark on a world headline tour kicking off October 7 in Europe, and dates on that leg include a slot at London’s O2 Shepherds Bush Empire on October 29. This will be followed by a North American leg beginning November 9 in Orlando, Florida. Dates wrap up at the White Oak Music Hall in Houston, Texas on December 20, and you can visit here for tickets. Keith Osk. CREDIT: RYAN BLEWETT Keath Ósk’s world tour dates are: OCTOBER 7 – Gent, BE – Club Wintercircus 8 – Amsterdam, NL – Melkweg 9 – Hamburg, DE – Fabrik 11 – Prague, CZ – ARCHA+ 12 – Berlin, DE – Hole⁴⁴ 14 – Warsaw, PL – Progresja 15 – Kraków, PL – Klub Studio 17 – Vienna, AT – Flex 18 – Munich, DE – CRAFT Veranstaltungs AG Nachtwerk 20 – Zürich, CH – Dynamo 22 – Madrid, ES – Lula Club 23 – Barcelona, ES – Razzmatazz 2 25 – Paris, FR – Alhambra 27 – Bristol, UK – O2 Academy Bristol 28 – Birmingham, UK – O2 Academy 2 Birmingham 29 – London, UK – O2 Shepherds Bush Empire 30 – Leeds, UK – Leeds Beckett Students’ Union NOVEMBER 1 – Glasgow, UK – Oran Mor Auditorium 2 – Manchester, UK – Manchester Academy 2 3 – Dublin, IE – The Academy 4-8 – Reykjavik, IS – Icelandic Airwaves 2026 † 9 – Orlando, FL – The Beacham 10 – Atlanta, GA – Variety Playhouse 12 – Nashville, TN – Exit/In 13 – Charlotte, NC – The Underground 14 – Pittsburgh, PA – Mr. Smalls Theatre 15 – Columbus, OH – Newport Music Hall 17 – Cleveland, OH – Globe Iron 18 – Washington, DC – The Howard Theatre 20 – Asbury Park, NJ – Asbury Lanes 22 – New York, NY – Webster Hall 23 – Philadelphia, PA – Union Transfer 24 – Boston, MA – Royale 25 – Toronto, ON – East End United 26 – Montreal, QC – Le Studio TD 29 – Chicago, IL – House of Blues 30 – Minneapolis, MN – Fine Line DECEMBER 2 – Denver, CO – Cervantes’ Other Side 4 – Salt Lake City, UT – Soundwell 6 – Spokane, WA – The District – Knitting Factory 8 – Portland, OR – Crystal Ballroom 9 – Seattle, WA – The Showbox 11 – Vancouver, BC – Vogue Theatre 13 – San Francisco, CA – The Castro Theatre 15 – Los Angeles, CA – The Fonda Theatre 16 – Phoenix, AZ – Crescent Ballroom 18 – Austin, TX – Brushy Street Commons 19 – Dallas, TX – Echo Lounge & Music Hall 20 – Houston, TX – White Oak Music Hall † FESTIVAL APPEARANCE At the start of the year, Yaelokre featured on the NME 100 and was praised as a “folk-pop troubadour in their own land of make-believe”. “Keath Ósk takes worldbuilding seriously. As Yaelokre, the Filipino-Icelandic songwriter, musician and illustrator makes folk-pop with a flair for the dramatic, fleshing out a fantastical, fictional story of four masked children in a world called Meadowlark,” the entry read. “The lore runs deep, and that’s the point – Yaelokre’s intricate, absorbing universe welcomes fanart and cosplay, and listeners all over the world have obliged with fervour: their first world tour, which took them all over the US, UK and Europe last year, was sold out.”