'This California Dreaming' EP by Duke Keats
Review
I was wondering what the focus of my first review of 2025 might be (and I have been nurturing one for a long time now: looks like it's still not ripe for sharing though) and I'm glad to say it was another of those surprise releases so many of those artists I most admire specialise in.
This time it's Duke Keats who has dropping a whole EP called ‘This California Dreaming' which contains the tracks "This California Dreaming", "Fame and Fortune", "The Middle" and "Delta Boy". As far as I can see, this is only available on his Soundcloud page at the moment (https://soundcloud.com/user-518334935/sets/this-california-dreaming).
The EP derives from the DIY side of his work as it is wholly & solely his own creation being self composed, performed & produced. Given this, it's hardly surprising that Prince features amongst his proclaimed influences, though it's one thing to wish to emulate a music great, quite another to possess the talent in all those capacities in order to pull it off. Which he does.
It's a curious, thoughtful & emotional complex quartet (not sure that's much of a surprise). As one who so very frequently channels aspects of Hollywood in his writing, it's interesting therefore to see his tagline "I don't know ‘bout you, but I just can't afford this California Dreaming" which opens up all sorts of potential discussions around the roles of dreams as both aspirational goals yet also possible damaging fantasies. Personally I have wondered how long it will be before Duke ends up in LA, but here is expressing caution & a palpable sense of "watch what you wish for". Good for him: this is music for grown up minds.
Not surprisingly, the music veers towards the raw. The title track is a starkly simple arrangement though that doesn't stop it being one of his most gorgeous songs. Beautifully played, he's left the sound of his fingers moving on the fretboard high on the mix which is pretty unusual for this sort of melodic song & his voice is close mic-ed and breathy. If this is his way of signalling authenticity of emotion & lyric then it's a great one.
"Fame and Fortune" as you'd imagine connects tightly with this theme. It may be a close fit conceptually but musically it's very distinct. Featuring a variety of overdubbed instruments it has a fuller sound but the true glory is in its audacious reimagining of what sounds like an old time cowboy lope into twenty first century idiom. If this sounds too weird to work on a popular level, think again as once again this remarkable artist has thought up yet another unlikely hybrid & made it work without compromising accessibility.
"The Middle" is another unique oddity: we are back to the delicate picking with highlighted fretboard sounds but the whole has been enveloped within what sounds like a form of white noise through which he's mixed it enough to escape to the point where it's clearly audible but after effort on the listeners' part.
Go on: guess the guitar style on "Delta Boy": yes you got that right there. Given that the EP starts on the US West Coast but ends up on the Atlantic seaboard, I wonder if the whole represents an eastbound journey? If so, that might explain the enigmatic "The Middle" in geographic terms. Conceptually, I might suggest that offering the authenticity of the delta blues sound provides a counterpoint to the perception of false values in Tinseltown where we started.
Or am I reading too much into ‘This California Dreaming'? It's difficult with artists of this calibre to always analyse how many layers their songs possess. One key might be that the songs form the first part of a soundtrack for a fictional musical which will eventually be augmented by some of Duke's animated visuals. Once again there is a breadth of artistic vision here which is beyond any of the formulaic fodder which passes for the mainstream of popular music these days. That's why my personal preferences lean so far in this direction. I look forward to the next instalment (as I do with those from Ace Ambrose & Monastery who are working in similar long form narrative arcs) which hopefully throw more light on the overall story & reveal more of the secrets I've yet to unravel.
