James McKeown is a Bristol based musician who has been actively involved in creating music and releasing material since 2010.
Originally working as a Guitarist and Songwriter, he is now associated with an electronic palette, specifically using Moog generated tones and recording and performing under the name of HAWKSMOOR.
He formed Prog 'Limelight' nominated Hi Fiction Science in 2008 and their 2014 sophomore release 'Curious Yellow' saw them signed to Cherry Red imprint, Esoteric Antenna. HFS are now on an indefinite hiatus.
Alongside this, he has continued to create solo material, both under his own name and under the pseudonyms of 'Frugal Puritan' (spoof Christian Acid-Folk) as 'The Dead Astronaut' (introspective, melancholic, melodic). This output has been released across a number of independent record labels including - Tonefloat, Reverb Worship, Fruits de Mer and Folk Police.
2017 has saw the creation of 'HAWKSMOOR' an imaginary hauntological soundtrack, inspired by the mythos surrounding the Nicolas Hawksmoor designed London churches. Keeping the same moniker Hawksmoor, a second album 201984 was released by the small, Bristol-based Environmental Studies label ran by promoter Paul Horlick. Further albums have been released to wider acclaim on the boutique cassette label 'Spun Out of Control' including 'Methods of Dreaming', 'Concrete Island' - in collaboration with The Heartwood Institute and 'On Prescription' well as releases on Castles In Space and 'Saturnalia' released by The Library of The Occult.