ANDREW KEESE AND THE ASSOCIATES

Desire can motivate or distract, lead one astray or towards their destiny. Remember the year you quit your everyday life and pledged unadulterated loyalty to your art?  Me neither.  Singer/songwriter Andrew Keese decidedly did just that.  In 2004, he quit his office job and life in Sydney to embrace his creative future in Melbourne, only to find that “… it was almost as though I needed something to fight in order to remain creative.” After one year of doing “absolutely nothing”, the finances dwindled, and he was forced to return to his day job. However this time, he had a new band – The Associates - and had written the songs which would form his debut album Desire. And the day job eventually paid for the recording.

The aptly titled debut LP Desire betrays the theme of reaching for something just beyond one’s grasp and is largely informed by the transitional period between Keese’s life in Sydney and his life in Melbourne.  Musically, Desire is an amalgamation of classic British pop/rock leanings; initiated by Pink Floyd, but tempered and given edge by more modern romantics (and cynics) such as Morrissey, Pulp, The Auteurs and The Jam.   Lyrically, Keese looks beyond musical influences, to literary icons such as T.S. Eliot and W.B. Yeats for his lyrical style, imagery and flow.

 Further inspiration came from the chance to work with renowned producer, Tony Cohen (Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, the Go-Betweens, the Beasts of Bourbon).  “Tony has a way of turning ideas and emotions into a sonic reality. Whenever you record anything, you instantly kill it,” Andrew states, “Cohen … brings it back to life.”    

Keese cites Australian contemporaries such as Augie March and The Drones, whose articulate, tense and intelligent music resonates within his own writing.  Keese leans towards the dark and mysterious, but wraps his unease or unhappiness in layers of intelligent arrangement, sensitive storytelling and thoughtful musicianship.  Think The Auteurs “Now I’m a Cowboy” or Pulp’s infamous “This Is Hardcore” and you may understand the sonic depths and dualities Keese has reached for in Desire.

Blessed are the Meek is the perfect introduction to Andrew Keese and the Associates, it’s also the first single taken from the debut album. Blessed are the Meek is the modern day poet’s Gershwin-esque stand-alone single; marching succinctly along, but ever soothing the listener with Andrew’s lackadaisical melodic vocals.  Rich string arrangements invite you in, like an usher at a theatre, slowly but surely guiding you to your vantage point.