Pianos Become The Teeth – “Keep You” Review
Posted: by Sean Gonzalez
This album is gorgeous. Even a while few after its release Keep You has kept with me. Pianos Become The Teeth toned down by ridding themselves of their screams and driving walls of distortion. Vocalist Kyle Durfey can sing, everybody knows it now. They pulled it off. Where does that leave this album in terms the scene? Well, that is for you as listeners to find out, Im just here to give some thoughts on it.
The biggest win for this album is its emotional appeal. The songs are slower, taking time to build with layered guitar riffs and structured chords. The songs progress naturally, seemingly expanding to a more full mix. The recipe is done over and over without every sounding too dull. Even a more upbeat song (I use upbeat very lightly) like ‘Lesions’ have graceful echoes and pulsing bass. The instrumentals on this album are tightly wound together. They compliment the change in vocals very well. To touch on the aforementioned song, Durfey seems to glide in at perfect parts to let his voice trill or be sung in a wiry fashion. His middle pitch is soothing and adds to the atmosphere the rest of the band has already created.
This record features 10 songs. A few of them are a bit lackluster compared to others, but overall they flow well and each have Durfey’s own emotional punch. He even makes note how the passing of his dad has been haunting him. His songwriting is what helps him cope and he shows it off. There are powerful one liners that are memorable to specific songs. First single ‘Repine’ has the enchanting music accompanied by the peacefully sung ‘Your wick won’t fade away.’ It is hard to describe it as peaceful because the pain in the voice, but it just blends with the music.
There is only one issue I have with Keep You, the pace. Clocking in an album at forty-four minutes is no big issue, but for a band that once was extremely abrasive, people have to accept that those days are not here. This album is meant to be listened too with full intent, on a long drive or anytime that reflection can happen. The mood of The Lack Long After was similar to this album had a more frustrated tone, thus the ability to have breakneck tracks with other slowly built songs.
Pianos Become The Teeth have composed a sad song soundtrack here. It is not all bad, because what Keep You does is help you find what’s worth keeping around, what makes you happy. In a few years when they are ready to create another piece of art I wonder what they will bring. They have shown they are adept at creating both spectrums of the post-hardcore genre. They blasted away with screams and have lusciously dealt emotional tracks without the screams.
8.5/10
– Sean
