May Payne announces new EP 'Keeper' out November 13th and shares spellbinding new single "Martha, I'm Sorry"
LISTEN TO “MARTHA, I’M SORRY” HERE
PRE-ORDER KEEPER EP HERE
PRAISE FOR MAY PAYNE
"I've not seen a reaction to a new artist like this in a long while." — Chris Hawkins, BBC 6 Music
"I've never met May Payne, but she has made me cry." — CLASH
"Her oeuvre so far comprises of admissions that feel, through her soulful delivery and cinematic, expansive sonics, as if they're all her saying them out loud for the first time." — DIY
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Rising UK singer-songwriter May Payne announces her deeply personal new EP ‘Keeper’, arriving November 13th, alongside the release of its extraordinary centrepiece “Martha, I’m Sorry”.
An almost eight-minute journey through love, guilt and the unbearable difficulty of choosing to leave someone you still care for, “Martha, I’m Sorry” finds the artist confronting heartbreak from an unfamiliar perspective. After years spent desperately trying to prevent relationships from ending, she suddenly found herself responsible for making that decision herself.
The result is one of her most vulnerable songs to date.
“I’ve been broken up with many times, each time kicking and screaming — I’ve genuinely written essays begging for people to stay with me. Historically, I've avoided the end at all costs, no matter how badly they treated me, no matter how negative the overall experience of being in that relationship was.
“A few years ago, I found myself on the opposite side. I realised that I had to break-up with someone that I thought was my person. I put it off for a really, really long time because it went against everything in my nature to inflict that kind of pain onto somebody else. I wrote this song the day after I finally managed to do it. It’s my way of saying sorry.”
Beginning sparse and confessional, “Martha, I’m Sorry” gradually expands into a sprawling kaleidoscope of sound, allowing the weight of her decision to accumulate naturally. Its scale is matched by the immediacy of its recording, as Payne travelled to rural Wales in late 2025, where a cottage was transformed into a makeshift studio and the track was captured live in one take, without a click track or headphones.
The song has already prompted an extraordinary response. After playing an early demo on BBC Radio 6 Music last year, Chris Hawkins remarked: “I’ve not seen a reaction to a new artist like this in a long while.” It has since become one of the most affecting moments of her live shows.
“Martha, I’m Sorry” now forms the emotional centre of ‘Keeper’, a six-track EP that follows May Payne through a cycle of heartbreak, emotional damage and, eventually, the frightening possibility of allowing herself to love again.
Recorded live during the same secluded cottage sessions in Wales alongside Sean Rogan and Rhys Jiang, the EP was deliberately stripped of many of the conventions of modern recording: no MIDI, loops or click tracks, with performances instead captured together and the strongest takes allowed to stand.
“Writing these songs is the only way I’ve been able to make sense of all the big emotional events that have happened to me over the past few years. They were all recorded live in a makeshift cottage-studio, and I feel like you can really feel the seclusion, vulnerability and human-ness throughout the project. I’m so excited to let other people in on this little piece of myself.”
That rawness mirrors the story Payne tells across ‘Keeper’. Recent single “The News” documented the shock of discovering that a former partner had entered another relationship only weeks after promising they would love her forever, while “Pennsylvania” revisits the devastation of flying to meet a long-distance love interest only to be stood up.
But as the EP progresses, she begins tentatively moving towards something new. “Solid Ground” captures the decision to accept that vulnerability despite the fear attached to it, while the title-track wrestles with finally finding the love she had been searching for and discovering that accepting it can be almost as frightening as losing it.
The result is a release made for the community she calls the “heavy feelers”: people who experience emotion at full volume and refuse to apologise for doing so.
Raised in Dorset and now embedded within a close-knit London songwriting community, May Payne has steadily built a reputation around precisely that kind of openness.
This autumn will see her take ‘Keeper’ onto the road extensively. She first joins Francis of Delirium for a run of UK dates, including Manchester, Bristol, Southampton and Brighton, before “Martha, I’m Sorry” arrives on October 2nd. Further dates supporting Quiet Houses follow throughout October.
LIVE DATES
Supporting Francis of Delirium
24.09.26 — Manchester — YES (Basement)
28.09.26 — Bristol — The Exchange
29.09.26 — Southampton — Heartbreakers
30.09.26 — Brighton — Dust
02.10.26 — London — The Lower Third — “Martha, I’m Sorry” release night
03.10.26 — Cambridge — The Portland Arms
04.10.26 — Ramsgate — Ramsgate Music Hall
Supporting Quiet Houses
08.10.26 — Edinburgh — The Mash House
11.10.26 — Newcastle — Cluny 2
12.10.26 — Leeds — Oporto
14.10.26 — Manchester — YES (Basement)
15.10.26 — Birmingham — Hare & Hounds (Venue 2)
16.10.26 — Bristol — Rough Trade
17.10.26 — London — Courtyard Theatre
London Headline Show
19.11.26 - Bermondsey Social Club - Tickets HERE
DISCOVER MAY PAYNE