Opening with "Good Things Get Better," the song whose optimistic beats and charismatic lyrics beg to define a movie soundtrack, Keaton stirred the cozily packed crowd at Hotel Café on 4/17.
It is widely known that as people consider their favorite songs, they mentally categorize them as tunes which encourage or counter a particular mood. For example, "I will listen to such-and-such song when I am _____ (lonely, ecstatic, heartbroken, furious, etc.) It occurs to me mid-first-song, as I file the track into my "best song for any mood" class, that it would be impossible to be anything other than fully charged, enthusiastic, while listening to it. Clearly written on a full heart/mind during which good things can only get better for two people, this song induces a state of beaming, shoulder-swaying, and the like. As someone who has spent most of her life creating things- strings of words, garments, recipes, very unacceptable songs – I have always felt that one of the greatest hopes an artist can have is for the receiver to feel, envision and actually live through the exact mindset under which the piece was crafted. This is how the artist knows that their visual, written or aural language has been truly heard. This is what has been achieved here.
Keaton's set list was well chosen in that it proved versatility by balancing acoustically-driven tracks with ones that startled the floor boards through intricate electric guitar solos. While the groove-worthy notes and harder vocals of the latter category confirm Keaton's understanding and appreciation of the blues genre, his gentler songs allow the listener to enjoy another equally notable talent: his gift for words.
In the song "Currently," Keaton proclaims love through an ocean motif which offers such memorable lyrics as "she is a song that the wave sings to the shore in the key of a gentle breeze...my undertow, caught in a riptide and I am currently in love with you." The song "Without Your Skin" tells of feeling so close to someone that you feel the vulnerability of nakedness when away from their skin, touch and kiss. The similarly affectionate song "Unstoppable" tells of a world in which right and wrong hardly matter when measured to the tender simplicity of a sun rising, a snow falling, a plane leaving and the invincible feeling of a new love.
In addition to his carefully chosen lyrics, Keaton has composed a three-member instrumental element which impresses listeners collectively and individually. He is proud to point that Joe Karnes (talented bass player of Pedestrian), Tommy King (who stunningly played two keyboards simultaneously throughout the show), and Michael Jerome (a drummer who regularly contributes to many artists' shows throughout the world, and who serves as the only non-curly-haired member of Keaton's band) all have notable solo projects.
From several feet away in the crowd, the top things you can know with certainty about Keaton is that he has a distinctive love for words, tattoos, the stage and life. After the set, stepping closer towards the unlikely rock star who will readily embrace every fan, you find an artist who seeps passion and has the whole world in his eyes. Among his eager resources are a new deal with CBS records, a network of artistically-prestigious friends, a soon-to-be-released album (June 10), a growing LA/national base of admirers and a smile that is, much like the music itself, contagious, transformative.
Review by Bre Goldsmith (www.bregoldsmith.com)
Check Keaton out at www.myspace.com/keatonsimons
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