Single review – Keeper: Soul

• 20th Aug 2021

There’s definitely an intriguing collision of sounds going on here.  ‘Soul’ is the new single from London-based artist Keeper, coming in the slipstream of previously lauded and widely playlisted efforts ‘New Pop UK’, ‘Hyper Pop’ and ‘Misfits 2.0’, and it’s pretty much got the lot. 

There’s a touch of the barely restrained emo hysteria of Enter Shikari in the vocal delivery.  There’s an element of the tightly focused funk of Rage Against the Machine and Paramore’s grasp of a decent melody. 

And yet there’s also an electronic edge too, manifesting itself in treated, processed vocals and a – yes, whisper it – proper pop sensibility. 

Speaking about the tracks, Keeper says: “Soul, for me, has two meanings. The song itself is about getting bored. Bored of where you live, bored of the people you’re with, bored of the shop, and bored with the sky above you. It’s a song about having a need to break out, like a Hyperpop version of Pop-Punks “I hate this town”. How life starts off fine, but gradually the monotonous routine of it all leaves you feeling burnt out, but what’s the point of leaving?

“The chorus is someone begging to run away, but waiting for a reason, because otherwise, what’s the point. The video is a little different. It is about how certain larger than life news-anchors instigate and frame situations for monetary gain. The idea is cartoonishly based of Manufactured consent by Noam Chomsky.”

In short, you hear original music all the time, and you hear music with mass appeal all the time, but something that ticks both boxes convincingly is rarer than then proverbial hen’s teeth.  This one’s a Keeper, that’s for sure.