KETO – ALBUM REVIEW

Keto – Blackened Pool (Graze Records)
Kato - Blackened Pool

Release Date: 29th October 2018

It’s autumn folks (not fall, nobody should call it fall, spring isn’t called ‘up we get’ is it!?) so we need some suitable music and I’ve got just the thing for you. Nottingham artist Keto is releasing her debut album on the weekend that the clocks change and ‘Blackened Pool’ is a delight. Opening up gently with ‘Milk’ we instantly get treated to Keto’s delicate and impish vocal that dances like a singular orange leaf on the breeze of acoustic notes and stray violin notes. ‘Subline Was the Warning’ picks the pace slightly, channelling the likes of Tori Amos, Talitha Rise and Laura Marling through the folk-grunge vibe created by Keto.

Wisps of cold wind creep in under the door on ‘Are We There Yet?’ as macabre melodies and dissonant flourishes create a bleak and edgy picture that you are as drawn to as you repelled by. ‘My Gut’ slithers in like a medieval serpent allowing Keto’s uniquely beautiful voice to snake in to your subconscious before ‘Always’ revels in the intricate beauty of ice crystals forming on a window pane in all their beautiful individuality. ‘What We Do’ continues with the beautiful whimsy and fragility we have now grown wilfully obsessed with but this one is wraps you in a warm blanket as the grey skies gather outside the window.

Keto
“We’ve come to the end of the world as we know it” sings Keto on ‘End Time’ and it sounds like the prophecy of a Celtic soothsayer and who are we to argue? The title track of the album, ‘Blackened Pool’, explores those grunge themes again with a vibe that is akin to MTV Unplugged Nirvana and I just love the combination of the dirge laden guitars and Keto’s light but angular voice. ‘What’s This?’ is a gentle acoustic lament full of carefully placed notes that leads us directly to closing track ‘Jackie’ which builds, reels and swirls with the passion of Marling but, oh, that voice is something altogether more unique and spellbinding. Keto has produced an album that beautifully encapsulates autumn and all it’s charm, energy and spirt of discovery but only if you give it the time. Crunch through its leaves, smell the bonfires on its breeze and enjoy all the rich flavours full of summer’s sun before winter comes in to steal it all away.

More information: https://www.facebook.com/ketomusicuk/

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