'Avalon' Part 1 by Duke Keats
Review
If you can keep up with the releases of Duke Keats then you are more skilled than I in that respect.
As indicated in my review of "The Angels Are All That's Owed", the most recent installment from his ‘Avalon' album, the latter would itself emerge in three blocs.
I hope you're following? Well Part The First is now available via Soundcloud and contains the tracks "Flowers, "The Island of Silver & Gold" and "Before You Go" as well as the previously released "The Angels Are All That's Owed" and "There Was a Measure": that is five of the eventual thirteen.
Still with me? I hope you are because some of what I'm writing is my attempt to get my head round it all.
Duke's songs are profound in theme (narcissism & superstition having been covered in the first two) so being sure that I've got even close to his intended meaning is never easy: and given his penchant for the cinematic, it's often difficult to tell when he's speaking for himself or narrating a story.
As I've said before, ‘Avalon' is an acoustic collection and "The Island of Silver & Gold" is a very lush & embracing example of the form: a gorgeous slice of scene setting which seems also to speak to the role of the storyteller themselves.
"Flowers" I'm afraid more eludes my reviewing talents such as they are: this is prime allusive Duke where poetic expression & the form of the music point you towards his meaning. The breathy vocal delivery also forms a filter which one needs to navigate: I think it's intended to have an element of impressionism and for what it's worth at some stage in trying to make sense of it, it reminded me of the dark twisted television series of the same name. Which is probably instinctive rather than terribly rational.
"Before You Go" is the equal of the others in terms of the lush index, though here it's achieved to begin with by multiple a cappella harmonies before acoustic instruments join him. It's not humanly possible to avoid the words "Beach Boys" here and so I can't. A very beautiful song and of the three, by far the easiest to comprehend lyrically. Live, I picture hankies coming out.
I haven't said yet how much I enjoyed these: right up there with my favourites by Duke Keats.
