"Lost in the Internet" by Duke Keats
Review
That embodiment of such an outrageous number of talents that we know as Duke Keats (don't forget that the artwork is his too) is at it again with today's new single "Lost In The Internet".
From the forthcoming EP ‘Post Internet', this track is as different from the preceding one (‘Mind Maps') as frankly any two consecutive releases from this ever restlessly creative artist are. That's of course why the level of esteem in which he is held is at such barely precedented heights.
For Duke, conceptualisation is as important as realisation and once again, what his songs are about is as important as how our ears are delighted by them.
To be succinct (and oversimplification of Duke Keats is not a path I wish to follow), media reflections cover a lot of his writing (though these cover a very wide range in practice): Hollywood mythology on one hand & the sinister & dystopian implications of the digital world at another spectrum point. It's the latter on this occasion.
As ever, my thoughts fall short of Duke's holistic vision so I am grateful for his sharing his insights that this collection is ".shaped by the isolation of the global pandemic and steeped in the surreal, hyper-connected atmosphere of the modern digital age. Entirely built using machines and technology, the project is both a reflection and a critique of our era—defined by quick-fix fame, perpetual social media interaction, and the numbing rhythm of doom-scrolling.".
Obvious "Lost in the Internet" as a title suggests scepticism that the system only has beneficial effects, yet the implications are far more nuanced than just a plain diatribe against the totality of its effects from the greed of those who control an allegedly democratic and empowering medium to the toxicity of the effects of discrete content on individuals. He is not blind to the irony that he himself created the music & promotes it via the Internet & the key is that's he's "lost in": not "damaged by" or "a slave to": he remains optimistic (as his songs always tend towards) gaining mastery and enough control to navigate through the hazards.
Of course, with Duke Keats, whatever the power of the whole track, the glories lie in the virtually countless pieces of intricate detailing: I wonder if anyone beyond its creator could unpick & deconstruct "Lost in the Internet" down to every constituent element? Almost certainly not.
The sort of twisted & distorted bastard child of funk and electronica which he excels in (and which ensures that all these high concept songs actually work really well on stage), the track is replete with sounds & textures from across analogue & digital eras which work together in parallel rather than simply alternating. And I mean "high concept": I can only think of one other song I own which touches bases with the work of Jacques Derrida (and that's unsurprisingly "Jacques Derrida" by Scritti Politti). Here Duke takes his idea of "hauntology" and applies it here. To be honest, I suspect he's being doing this for a long time implicitly: this is an artist with one foot in the future at least but also deeply affected by past cultures. It's more than just nostalgia I'm sure: he seems as possessed by these as much as anything from what he says. It informs his analysis of the present & he may well agree with George Santayana that "Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it.".
That said, many readers may well feel that citing Derrida and Santayana in a music review is inexcusably pretentious (even if they do inform the song under examination) so if you're not into that side of things, then you'll enjoy "Lost in the Internet" just fine for its musical qualities. Though the title hook is impossible to remove from your mind once you've played it even a single time.
Check out too the video which can be found at: youtu.be/N8B6RvxtAK8?feature=shared
