Keep You

The third album by this Baltimore emo/post-rock band is breathtaking and warm, driven by songwriting that is simultaneously unconventional, catchy, subdued, and heartfelt. I read something about this band's guitarist being influenced by The National's slow-burning, understatedly dramatic sound, and that touchpoint definitely makes sense here. But forgoing The National's lamentations about the ennui of the NYC high life, Pianos singer Kyle Durfey puts these songs in the service of forthright, lyrical meditations about mortality. Fans of The Appleseed Cast, Explosions in the Sky, and American Football will really like this, but this is really an A+ rock record—beautiful, heavy, accessible, deceptively complex, and absolutely immersive. Tracks 1-10 constitute the album , and 11-13 are very good bonuses. Every songs's great, and the sound is pretty uniform, but 1, 5, 7, 10, 11 are good places to start. FCC WARNING: 2.


1. *(3:29)—Medium-fast, tight, driving, tense. “Thinking before I speak, hoping for something bigger.”
2. (4:41)—FCC WARNING (b*******). Medium-slow, loping, with deep, wispy guitars. Calm until the last minute.
3. (3:44)—Mid-tempo with billowing breakdowns, rocks right out of the gate.
4. (4:40)—Medium-slow, stop-and-go rhythm, jumping seamlessly between minimal and heavy passages. Gets a bit screamy.
5. *(5:07)—Medium-slow, epic, obliquely anthemic. “Your wick won't burn away.”
6. (3:46)—Mid-tempo, minimal first half, picks up in the second half.
7. *(4:31)—Mid-tempo, kind of U2-ish, with a more conventional song structure.
8. (2:40)—Mid-tempo, cool, with tom-heavy drumming.
9. (3:44)—Slow, spacey, pretty, anthemic, climactic.
10. *(7:03)—Slow, plodding, heavy, intense, with some screaming. Long outro.
11. *(5:48)—Medium-slow, languid, very pretty.
12. (3:41)—Medium-fast then medium-slow, rocking, nice final build.
13. (4:25)—Slow, minimal to start. Drums enter halfway in.