Guitar anthems: they were all the rage during the 1970s and 1990s, but have become less prominent in the mainstream in recent years. The Arctic Monkeys, clattering hooks and epithet-coated choruses in 2006, moved away from the genre in 2018 for croonier melodies. Legacy bands Manic Street Preachers, Guns N’ Roses and My Bloody Valentine proudly carry their instruments, blasting power chords into the prying audience, every plectrum bearing an attitude and confidence. It’s becoming harder to think of a younger equivalent, so it’s a relief to find KEELEY’s Girl on the Edge of the World. Rock guitars form the central DNA of the record, for all the glory it can muster.
“Who Wants to See the World” starts with reverb playfully echoing around the speakers, inviting the bass to lift the tune into dancier terrains. Lukey Foxtrot’s bass anchors the tune, allowing the guitars and drums to improvise in all sorts of idiosyncratic directions. Foxtrot introduces “Crossing Lands”: angular lines making way for a psychedelic coating. As if channelling Noel Gallagher on Definitely Maybe standout “Bring It on Down”, the band embrace garage punk; tom-toms rolling on emotion just as they do on skill.
Inspired by the death of German backpacker Inga Maria Hauser, a murder that shook Northern Ireland in 1988, Girl on the Edge of the World is lit by genuine anger and fear. Mostly recorded by a bare trio, the tunes coalesce into a conceptual whole; to the album’s credit, a listener doesn’t need to know the backstory to relish the melodies.
Shoegaze luminary Miki Berenyi cameos on “Big Brown Eyes”, adding a ghostly harmony to a tune peppered by spirits and memories. The title track culminates with an outro that incorporates electric instruments with tape loops, and jingle-jangle pop piece “Daydreams and Trains” inserts a chiming snap that should work as nicely in concert as it does on record. “Fell in Love With a Ghost” dials it back to the campfire ballads that became Donovan’s bread and butter: finger-pricks decorating the fragile voice. “London Underground” compiles a litany of riffs: a rhythm scratching the central tempo, as a Western-style arpeggio drips down over it.
Some of the record’s lyrics are occasionally clumsy and ham-fisted. “London Underground” is a pleasant exception, curating the English capital with the attention and angular detail of a painter. Foxtrot, again, proves to be something of an unsung hero, cementing the empty spaces with harmonics and twists a la Led Zeppelin‘s John Paul Jones. Pathos wraps around “To Bring You Back”, the songwriter willing a higher force to revive Hauser’s soul. “I’m entranced by sound,” KEELEY sings, clearly mesmerised.
From the fuzz tones on “Trains and Daydreams” to the funk stylings throughout “The Movies of Our Yesterdays”, Girl on the Edge of the World serves as a blueprint as to what the electric guitar is capable of.
It would be churlish to say KEELEY has revived the genre; that said, it’s equally refreshing to hear a vital, younger artist tackle the six-string with fervour. The opening composition, “Hungry for the Prize,” is particularly propulsive, a galloping intro that showcases the energy the album will follow. Recorded in tandem with collaborator Alan Maguire in Dublin, the project as a whole has a familiar Irish flair; a collection of tales and fables nestled beside arresting guitar exhibitions.
Keen to carry this energy onto the live stage, KEELEY and bandmates have purportedly planned some gigs across England in the coming weeks. Guitar solos sound rich on tape; given the right atmosphere, they can become euphoric in concert. Let’s see how the songs evolve on the stage.