"Android" by Duke Keats
Review
So here we are with the third instalment of Duke Keat's forthcoming ‘Bornstar' EP (pretty apt title eh?) as "Android" joins "Data Machinery" and "Heavy Heartbreak" within our consciousness.
Co-produced by Mason Le Long (who's cropping up so much in my reviews at the moment) I suppose that within the context of what he himself describes as an "eclectic" EP, this track & its predecessor form as close a matched pair as is possible in their exploration of "the intertwining of technology and society."
I find it very odd finding myself writing the next words as I neither enjoy any process of trying to rank tracks nor find it possible to judge between the individual songs in Duke's repertoire, so diverse are they, yet my first instinct was to feel that this might be my favourite (so far) of his work.
I'm not going to over-analyse that thought given the immediacy of my response, but sometimes we need to acknowledge the voice of our subconscious & to respect what it's telling us.
Possibly it's because it's not one of his darker songs & the sun is shining outside that it struck a personal chord. It also could be because I delight in his sure footed approach to the subject. While delivered in an appropriately icy tone of futuristic detachment, there is none of the angsty paranoia of previous writers on the subject like Gary Numan nor the loss of humanity in the delivery where, for example, Kraftwerk, crosses over into tones of alienation.
Instead, there are elements of definite empathy or at least comprehension, even when discussing the gulf between himself & the subject of the song. He may not feel fully connected but he offers a sense of pity which few (if any) dystopian songs care to do.
There is also a lightness of touch which might include elements even of humour to banish the darkness & this is conjured up for the most part by what I might call gorgeous synthetic music: tones are comparatively warm and the compelling riffs (on keyboards and beautifully calibrated fuzztone guitar), hypnotic in their embrace of the listener.
Duke himself cites inspirations such as Daft Punk, Bloc Party or Muse but I'd also suggest parallels with early 1980s synth pop: such as when Jo Callis started writing the Human League's songs and Martin Rushent started producing them…
Maybe "Android" is Duke Keats' finest pop song to date? I hope he'll take that as the compliment I intend.
As ever, you mustn't isolate the song from the wide context of Duke's imagination: both his filmic inspirations & his talent as a visual artist. To that end, I'd recommend that you check out the single's video at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=shared&v=AOkXar7j5rg
This not only showcases those graphic skills in abundance (it must have taken a lot of finesse and hard graft just to make it not to mention the imagination to conceive of it) but helps to tell the deeper stories within the song which on a personal level relate to exploring how the Duke Keats persona created by Connor Blundell navigates the contemporary digital world but the broader inter-relation of technology, social media and real people.
A summer hit with the built in refrigeration we need on a day like today?
