KEEF Release Their Hypnotic New Single ‘You And Me Against The World’
You And Me Against The World is the latest single from North West-based five-piece KEEF—a track that feels oddly fitting for the times we’re living in.
Straight off the bat, it felt as if I was listening to the Echo and the Bunnymen of the 21st Century. The track itself has this brooding darkness that drips atmosphere. It seamlessly manages to be mysterious without compromising on what it’s trying to say—both lyrically and musically. In a nutshell: if you were to swap out the dystopian imagery of robotic police and clandestine politicians with bandana-clad teens hunting the undead, it wouldn’t be a bit out of place. It’s effortlessly cool.
Lyrically, You And Me Against The World is an effective rallying cry for defiance, individuality, and non-conformity; breaking free from the mundaneness of the status quo. The opening line, “When you feel like there’s nowhere to run, and you’ve not got the will to go on, I’ll be there for you right by your side,” immediately establishes a sense of struggle and solidarity. It speaks to that part of our souls that’s feeling lost or disillusioned. There’s an urgency, too, reflected in such lines as “we need to find our way before it’s too late” as the chorus hammers home the message of unity in a world that refuses to see the truth.
Production-wise, the track oozes a wonderfully analogue warmth. It sounds like somebody has just slapped a 45 from some long-forgotten ‘60s garage act on the turntable—the kind of track you’d only know if you were one of those winklepicker-ed cool kids! The guitars shimmer with that classic ‘60s twang, and I’ve gotta give special mention to the solo. It carries a raw, instinctive energy that’s sorely missing in much of modern music. It’s the kind of solo that, once upon a time, made music professors the length and breadth of the country claw at their eyes in abject horror—unable to comprehend the concept of music without rules. If you’ve ever seen that video of musicologist Hans Keller trying to understand Pink Floyd in 1968, you’ll know what I mean.
The keys have that great Vox-y sound right from the school of Manzarek, Price, Skala et al, whilst the bass and drums do what they were born to do—keep it cool. There are some great sounds and effects going on and, dynamically, it’s well balanced. Smack bang in the middle of the fray is a voice reminiscent of Northern crooners such as Ian McCulloch and Steve Rawlings, themselves inspired by the garage and psychedelia of the 1960s. The moody post-punk vibe of the vocals is the neatly tied bow on a song that does such a good job of conveying the dystopic megalomania of a post-truth society.
The best way I’ve found to describe You And Me Against The World is this: say you took Echo and the Bunnymen’s Porcupine and The Doors’ Strange Days; chucked them in some great big machine (that’s above this humble reviewer’s understanding), say, the Large Hadron Collider, and smashed them into each other at break-neck speed—the resulting fusion would be You And Me Against The World. It’s a lesson in psychedelia that avoids pastiche and finds a comfy spot for itself within the genre. That great psychedelic wave may have broken and rolled back a long time ago now, but KEEF have proven there’s still plenty of scope to keep it fresh, interesting, and, most importantly, catchy.
Going forward, KEEF will be a band I’ll be keeping a keen eye out for. This is the kind of track that lingers in your mind long after the last note fades—haunting, hypnotic, and completely its own.
KEEF’s You And Me Against The World is out now!
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PS. Can we just take a moment to appreciate how cracking of a band name KEEF is?
Daniel Ryan
