“I’ve got four records on Bandcamp; basically no one has listened to any of them; and now I’m putting one out with a record company. An actual record company!” Speaking is Austin-based singer-songwriter Sean Keel, whose debut single has now been released by Swedish boutique music label Icons Creating Evil Art. That’s something to be very thankful for, because it doesn’t get much more beautiful than this. It may be my somewhat gloomy mood today, but the poetic, tear-jerking lyrics in combination with the distinctive, emotion-charged vocals and the spare folky arrangements hit me hard. Fragile and powerful at the same time. Close your eyes, listen to the two tracks here – Corn Palace and We Rolled Up The Rugs – and give yourself goosebumps all-over. Keel is realistic: “This music is not for everyone. I’m positive most people aren’t gonna like it. But I’m pretty sure there are loads of people out there that would.” He’s absolutely right.
Sean Keel, nearly 60, has made folk/jazz records with his family band Bill the Pony, he wrote a sword and sorcery novel, short stories and poetry, and he is also a long-time research professor of mathematics at the University of Texas. His single Corn Palace, previously self-released in another version, is out now digitally trough Icons Creating Evil Art. It’s the first taste of full-length album A Dry Scary Blue, produced by Gabriel Rhodes, which we can expect later this fall.
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