Last week's Album of the Week was Fowls' Into the Wild, a hyper-tight mathy offering from Rochester. This week, we're continuing with the Rochester trend, but that's about the only thing these two bands have in common. This week's AOTW is Too Old To Believe in Ghosts, a seven-song EP from a band called Keeler, a four piece emo/punk outfit who, to be frank, sound nothing like Fowls' clean and calculated indie rock. In fact, I'd go as far as to say the bands are complete opposites.
It might just be me, but I think there is an emo revival making its way around the "scene" or the "underground," or whatever you want to call it. Most of these on-the-verge bands seem to be coming from Topshelf Records. Coincidentally, Keeler just had a pretty big opportunity where they opened for Topshelf up-and-comers The World Is A Beautiful Place And I Am No Longer Afraid To Die and the nerd-rock headlining act The Front Bottoms. Keeler falls right into that category - I wouldn't be surprised if they continue to head in a TWIABP direction (sans horns and cellos and all that other jazz).
On that note, Keeler sounds exactly like what you might expect; slightly discordant and almost a little bit sloppy, but totally grounded all at the same time. Keeler is one of those bands that offers a specific experience, really. They specialize in the self-recorded, "about-to-fall-apart" sound that emo bands have somehow made so enjoyable. Many of the songs on Too Old To Believe In Ghosts sound like Joan of Arc or a less self-depriciative Cursive. Needless to say, I of course mean this all as a compliment. After all, this is passionate, emotional, and independent rock music.
The album opens with "Shoot the Jay," which doesn't even crack the two-minute mark. It's a rush of harshly strummed guitar chords and a few yelps from singer Sam LiButti. Keeler's lyrics are exceptionally dark... LiButti yells lines like, "I'm freezing cold, kill me. Please." I can't help but laugh as that's pretty much exactly how I am feeling right now as I write this in my refrigerator/apartment hyrbid.
"Little Bendies" and its predecessor on the album, "Little Bendies Pt. 2," are about as Kinsella (I am referring to the Kinsella brothers from Cap'n Jazz, Joan of Arc, Owls, Make Believe fame) as they come, featuring spastic vocals overtop instrumentals that are just discordant enough to be creative and intense instead of abrasive. "Little Bendies Pt. 2" even makes use of a cymbal bell-heavy drumbeat which is extremely reminiscent of The Appleseed Cast. But one of my personal favorite tracks, is the delightful "Backburner," which may just be the hidden gem on this album. "Backburner" is indication of all that Keeler is capable of - complimenting their usual intensity with some forlorn gang vocals and a gentle lead guitar to start off the song.
Though every other song falls right around the two minute mark, album closer "Indian Watcher" is worth every second of its six minute run. The production value on this EP isn't incredible, but for some reason, it seems to add to the authenticity, and for that matter, the overall experience. This one reminds me of The Anniversary, or some other mid-level Vagrant band from the late nineties. It finishes in a swirl of guitar over top of a pretty impressive drumbeat. Kudos to drummer/engineer Christian "The Cool" Ortiz for a thoroughly enjoyable listen.
Too Old To Believe In Ghosts is currently being offered for free on bandcamp - I highly suggest downloading it here.
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