Tim Keegan remains one of Britain’s great lost songwriting treasures, yet should be up there with Lloyd Cole, Edwyn Collins or the Divine Comedy’s Neil Hannon as one of our most cherished performers.
Since leaving university in the early 1990’s, Keegan has been performing his acoustic driven pop songs, fronting critically acclaimed bands such as Homer and Departure Lounge, but also spending much of the mid-90’s guesting with British eccentric troubadour Robyn Hitchcock (check out Jonathan Demme’s Storefront Hitchcock movie for proof).
Although Vide Grenier (French for ‘clearing out the attic’ apparently) is only Keegan’s third album this century, prolific he isn’t, he doesn’t waste a single track. With a newly assembled band, The Personals, made up of close friends from the Worthing music scene, he delivers eleven optimistically acoustic driven tracks, some dating back to the 1990’s. Kicking off with, the Donovan sounding, Self Esteem, Vide Grenier offers a perfect mix of lively energy and subtle heartfelt observations of life, drawing the listener into his warming world of jangly-pop meets folk, with perhaps just a touch of country thrown in for good measure.
Recent single (if a digital solo track counts as such) ‘Intensive Care Unit‘ is reminiscent of Stephen Duffy or John Bramwell at their best, exploring the themes of adapting to parenthood with a sublime melody which will work its way into your mind, and you won’t want it to leave! Second single ‘Pomme De Terre‘ offers a humourful bi-lingual celebration of what Keegan describes as an “ode to the humble spud. Rarely round, but never square” and whilst not as appealing as ‘Intensive Care Unit‘ it does have a certain charm and wouldn’t go amiss as a Divine Comedy track. ‘Thin‘ is perhaps the track that, if released in the mid-90’s (when it was written), would have given Edwyn Collins a run for his money offering some country-tinged slide guitar under a simple but effective melody, whilst exploring body imagery – ahead of his time!
Sadly, Keegan’s live shows are few and far between these days so all we are left with is Vide Grenier’s collection of eleven opbeat songs until he next deems to get a band together – which he promises will be “soon”. It might only be February, but this is already shaping up to be one of my albums of the year.
