If, like me, this is your first run-in with THE KEYS, then listen up. "Love Your Sons & Daughters" is a strange, neo-psychedelic pop trip with all kinds of weird sonic fronds hanging out the windows as the band's odd, but catchy sound mushrooms out of their South Wales rehearsal room.
Let's get down to a bit of detail before we continue. Once upon a time there was a band called Murray The Hump. They were seen as being a bit good for a while there and were praised considerably by Blur's man about town Alex James. Sadly, they dissipated quickly, but proceeded to rise quietly - like a sleepy phoenix yawning and hovering uncertainly from the ashes - and morph into The Keys. Comprising Matthew Evans (guitar/ vocals); Gwion Rowlands (guitar) and Sion Glynn (bass), they are currently augmented by drummer Elliott Jones from valleys band El Goodo and percussionist Kris Jenkins. Oh, and sometimes a mysterious pedal steel player called John Catfish. So now you know.
Anyway, fast forward a little way. Your reviewer missed their debut single back in January, but the groovy, DH Lawrence pop of "Love Your Sons & Daughters" is as good a way as any to get acquainted anyhow. What happens, then? OK, it starts with what sounds like a brief snatch of backwards church organ before a snappy, "Roadrunner"-type riff kicks it off proper. From there, snake-hipped basslines, tambourines and wayward, acid-inspired backing vocals spur on all sorts of hazy wisdom from Matthew Evans. Oh, and there's some oddball organ fom what could well be a half-cut Mark. E.Smith, who appears to have slipped into the studio with a bottle of Cuervo Gold while the band were having a spliff break. It's good, if you were wondering.
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The two B-sides are standard, out-there oddness, possibly fuelled by copious amounts of skunk. "As Good As Glue" features all manner of backwards tapes, distorto FX and finally some determined strumming, which momentarily attempts to get it on the rails. "There's a door and it's open wide, but I just can't step outside," sings Evans through the murk and you tend to agree with him. "Echinacea", by comparison, is an endearing twilight campfire strum, stoned but fun. Predictably it collapses half way through, but y;know, it's a b-side and it does have some nice three-way harmonies prior to that, so we'll accept it gracefully.
Nonetheless, as stumbly and half-finished as they sound here, The Keys definitely have something exciting going on. Their debut album's due in October. I'd suggest you ingest something suitable and hang about on this wavelength.
(www.thekeysmusic.co.uk)
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