Keir: Keir – Album Evaluate

(Vertigo/Common)

Vinyl/DL/Streaming

Accessible from twenty fifth August

The a lot anticipated full-length debut from Keir, the Bristol-based artist is right here, showcasing his expertise and chameleon-like qualities.

The very first thing that hit me once I noticed a photograph of Keir round 12 months in the past was ‘That’s Marc Bolan’. The resemblance was uncanny. I wasn’t the primary particular person at Louder Than Battle who grew to become conscious of the proficient singer. That honour goes to Jon Kean, who caught him at Moles Membership in Bathtub in 2017 and in contrast him to Michael Hutchence meets Freddie Mercury, in tune and stage presence. Since then many comparisons have been made, Pink, Beck and most notably Prince. It’s maybe an indication of his uniqueness that while many will be in contrast, not one pigeonhole significantly suits; for instance, the newest single, Voices, I believed had a contact of The Dreaming period Kate Bush.

Born in Bathtub, Keir was introduced up within the small West Nation city of Corsham, the kid of an English father and a half-Indian mom. His maternal grandfather hailed from Bangalore, and his mom’s mixed-race heritage ensured she skilled racial prejudice firsthand throughout her personal childhood on the Isle Of Wight. The eldest of three brothers; the center of which performs drums in Keir’s band stay and on his information. Keir started enjoying guitar after which keyboards in his early teenagers, though he readily admits, he set off wanting “to be like Nick Cave and never play an instrument in any respect.” Keir initially (nearly solely) devoured pop music, listening to artists like Avril Lavigne and Enrique Iglesias, earlier than his brother turned him onto Jimi Hendrix. After that, a stint as a trashy-garage-guitar-and-drums, White Stripes-influenced, two-piece together with his brother resulted in him not considering or significantly caring about his future anymore. “Early on,” admits Keir, “I simply needed to be well-known, As of late, none of that issues. It’s like I’m residing by way of some form of after-life.”

The highway to “today” includes a five-year-long, writing and recording relationship, with fellow musical traveller, and Bristol-based George Glew. Keir explains that it’s George who holds the entire thing collectively, efficiently reworked “the darkness, pleasure and isolation of the human situation” into music with a pounding, heartbeat, depth, and an immediate, basic really feel that’ll make you suppose you’ve had these songs knocking round the home for years. Lots of the tracks have a typical theme operating by way of them, psychological well being.

For 4 years, Keir acted as a assist employee at Dimensions in Bathtub, working with individuals who have autism and extreme studying difficulties which he says he completely beloved, feeling “a deep connection to the folks we supported and the darkness they felt.” Keir thinks it is because struggles with psychological well being run in his household. “A member of the family was sectioned when she was youthful,” says Keir now, “and there’s one thing about darkish inside turmoil I’ve at all times discovered an affinity with. My intentions are to not glamourise darkness, however to shine a light-weight in direction of it. Music is my manner of connecting the dots I suppose.”

So what of the album? 11 tracks, lasting simply over half-hour. After I spoke to the artist a couple of weeks in the past for my Indie Brunch on Louder Than Battle Radio he defined the eclectic really feel to it is because of it being written over a lot of years, like many debut albums I assume.

The opening Lemonade positively fizzes with pleasure, describing the spontaneous fireworks of a brand new partnership, a brand new factor, a brand new world, or as Keir places it, “You enter the brand new world with someone you barely know. You throw warning to the wind since you really feel awake from the boredom of life earlier than. This world has given you a brand new life.”

That is adopted by Bulletproof, which is because of be launched as a single on the identical day because the album. Explaining the background of the observe, Keir explains, “Bulletproof was truly initially written with my grandad in thoughts,” says the person whose voice – a mellifluous, brittle instrument so finely poised and positioned to have the ability to declare land rights of its personal – has by no means sounded higher. “He was an ethereal character who I had principally identified by way of tales and pale recollections. It then grew to become some form of 808 totally charged factor which George and I adopted. It’s a form of Frankenstein monster like that, one half tender one half imply, like most of my previous relationships, probably like most of yours too. However what’s one with out the opposite?”

Upon first listening to the album, I believed Voices was a little bit of an outlier, its quirkiness inflicting me to attract the Kate Bush comparability. The extra I heard it the extra it grew to become a favorite. “It strikes between the corners of someone’s thoughts,” says the singer. “Somebody who’s taunted by the circus which it could actually typically be. And the circus for many people is what we stay with, it could actually outline us and it may be a really attention-grabbing, darkish world. It may be gentle and playful too however we should study to stay with each worlds of the thoughts and admire that one can not exist with out the opposite.”

An additional run of singles follows, all written throughout the first lockdown and influenced by a very painful break-up. A hypnotic beat and hovering vocals seize the eye. Time (Is A Healer) feels like David McAlmont fronting a band that thinks it’s Underworld. There’s a lot packed into simply 4 minutes. Each time I hear it I discover myself listening to twice making an attempt to work out the way it had been achieved. “After writing Time,” says Keir, “it has since change into fairly a crutch for me on days of darkness: to place it on loud in my headphones and stroll round Bristol. My soul heals. I really feel much less misplaced. I feel if somebody can have an inch of that form of feeling when listening to it, then what a gorgeous factor. The tune is a light-weight within the darkness and a reminder that our traumas don’t outline us.”

Main into the centre of the album is Say Love, a observe that has been streamed 4.3 million instances on Spotify alone after getting used on an episode of Love Island. “I by no means supposed to write down about heartbreak, however throughout lockdown, every part modified a lot. 2 months after the announcement I discovered a relationship turned to nothing. The sensation of disappointment and isolation was doubled by the circumstances of the world during which we had all discovered ourselves. I couldn’t see mates or take care of it in a pure manner, as an alternative, I used to be left inside my very own head. I struggled to eat, sleep, suppose.” The ultimate a part of the trilogy, Blood In The Water, was “Written after I had come to phrases with the world ending.” The observe is wrought with photos of impurity – blood clotting, coagulation, our bodies colliding – and darkish metaphors of illness, need and dishonesty. Regardless of the subject material, its restrained but hovering vocals once more have you ever hooked and wanting extra.

Mom follows, stating pretty low-key however quickly blossoming with backing vocals. It ebbs and flows, and leads into Confession. The observe is pushed by Keir’s vocals again by crunching guitars earlier than dropping to a delicate piano piece earlier than hovering once more. My favorite observe Voices The Evening indicators the album resulting in a detailed. It’s a highly effective, craving ballad, a tune about not forgetting, or, extra pertinently maybe, about sitting by the window and listening to the darkness, realizing that for a second you had discovered somebody you possibly can share every part with. “I like the theatre of the tune,” says Keir, “and the way it feels as if you might be chatting with a cloud, one thing which can by no means reply, however nonetheless, you retain on talking by way of the evening within the hope recollections can by no means actually fade.”

The album closes with She’s Like A Swan and Disgrace. The previous is main right into a Kate Bush, The Dreaming vibe while being funky and Prince-like however with sections delivered by George Michael. Too many comparisons? Test it out for your self… Comparisons sure, copies, no. The ultimate observe rolls out the choir as soon as extra with an encore that might have been lifted from a theatrical manufacturing.

While made up of tracks written over a lot of years this needs to be the place to begin for folks to get on board. Over the 11 tracks, it’s nearly as nuanced because it’s doable to get today, tiny snapshots of a life being lived, beatific sugar-coated assaults on the soul. Hear with out prejudice.

Keir is on Fb, Twitter and Instagram

All phrases by Iain Key. See his writer profile right here or discover him on X (Twitter) as @iainkey