'Black Cat.2' by Duke Keats
Review
A very happy fifth birthday to ‘Black Cat': which is in many ways the beginning of the now legendary career of Duke Keats, being the first project he produced & released independently. ("Don't Fall Apart" which featured on ‘Hot Music Live Presents Volume Ten' had its original home on this album).
To celebrate, he's gifting us (not the usual way birthday presents work is it: but it's most generous) ‘Black Cat 2'.
Again it's made up of eight tracks, but whereas many artists marking milestones of albums tend to remaster & remix the original songs and then add in extra demos and the odd one which didn't make the cut, Duke opts for eight we've never heard before: it's actually a brand new album, albeit constructed from 2020 recordings rather than the contemporary ones he's been sharing recently such as ‘Avalon'.
The obvious statement that "what talent he has if he left these off first time round" is so necessary to say that I'll get it out of the way right now. Such is the embarrassment of riches that the song "Black Cat" itself, though I guess the intended as the title track of the original, only appears now. This, in my opinion is a darned shame as it can only have been squeezed out by the merits of the eight which made the cut: it's a great track and ideal for Hallowe'en… a rather disconcerting and spooky meld of a jazz groove with slivers of rock jabbing into it.
The second set is consistent with the feline concept of its predecessor and with its All Saints Eve/Day of the Dead vibe and I suppose both fills out the story & adds shadings to it. The other seven songs are "Once in a Black Moon", "Hattie", "I May Cry For You", "A Spider in the Middle of a Web", "Nice Guys Finish Last (It's Just Like That)", "More Lassis" and "The Sound of Love".
I've mused over the issue of releasing "demoes" several times recently so I won't repeat myself. With ‘Black Cat.2' we have several factors to take into our consideration. The firstly is that however good these songs are (and I'd fervently thank him for not keeping them to himself any longer), he's progressed even further in the intervening half decade. This is not juvenilia but they are also less complex conceptually to begin with and in their relatively stripped back arrangements, there aren't the myriad of little touches that we've since become used to. Clearly he feels that his art has developed and with all the exciting new material to share, going back & working further on them isn't a priority: they are an honest window into his work of the time.
That said, through luck or something else, we can delight (well I did) in strange sounds which are more interesting than had layers of polish been applied: levels of reverb or vocal balances which probably wouldn't have escaped a full production process for example. I think they add character & originality.
In terms of potentially the biggest production deficit, "The Sound of Love" which is a rather agreeable 80's styled instrumental here, could also perhaps be a backing track for a song which didn't in the end receive lyrics. In its present form he should try selling it as incidental television music: it'd work just fine.
As you'd imagine, his use of visual & cinematic stimuli for writing music was in place then & stories are being told, extended & augmented & vivid scenes are being set throughout.
His curiosity as to varying styles is also noticeable: you might discern in "Hattie" not just a flavour of flamenco but maybe a precursor to the acoustic phase he's currently exploring.
I think you'll be a bit shocked that it's taken five years for these excellent songs to come out (some Royal scandals have been quicker) but the feeling of pleasure and justice served will overcome that of surprise.
Knowing Duke, who'd bet against a ‘Black Cat.3' emerging in 2030? There are for all I know, probably ‘Dirty Glamour.2' and ‘Post-Internet.2' to boot. This man is prolific.
