Their album & some words

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Their album & some words


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An article from 5D Music & Theatre writer Maria Robertson.

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This Autumn, KEELEY will return with their much anticipated new album ‘Beautiful Mysterious’, on 18 October.

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Perhaps it’s the special preserve of the Irish to tell stories of escape, travel and loss and Keeley Moss does it with great relish, skill and poetry. Tiny Global Productions are thrilled to announce KEELEY’s mesmerising second full-length album… ’Beautiful Mysterious’. Following on from last year’s widely praised debut ‘Floating Above Everything Else’, this new set further illustrates a knack for condensing decades of musical influences into a heady brew of contemporary songcraft.

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KEELEY has been many things over the past few years. Primarily the vehicle for singer-songwriter-guitarist Keeley Moss to bring her musical visions to life with Dublin-based producer Alan Maguire, it’s also the name of her live band (now a formidable power-trio), it’s a curation space for an occasional radio show “Keeley’s Blissed-Out Bangers”, it’s a resplendent ballroom where the hopes and aspirations of a murdered German teenager called Inga Maria Hauser come to dance. Then in a day-to-day sense, it’s become a sanctuary from the infuriating bluster of modern living for a music-obsessive and a true-crime aficionado who has lived a life less ordinary.

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As the opening song “A Doorway To Another World” suggests, these eleven songs aim to paint a picture, a conceptual prism that captures the kinetic thrill of train journeys through Europe, the kindness of strangers, postcards home that talk of cathedral spires and Loch Ness monsters. Taking the short life of Inga Maria Hauser as her canvass, KEELEY pieces together the fragments of a teenage life bristling with promise.

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Keeley explains… “Floating Above Everything Else was basically an album of eleven short stories about Inga. Beautiful Mysterious however is a sonic novel. An even more immersive experience, and one with a very definite narrative arc. It’s a darker and more extreme record than the debut with more savage jagged edges yet it’s imbued overall with a spacious, nocturnal ambience. It is the album which all my future records will be measured against.”

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So, who was Inga Maria Hauser? On March 29, 1988 this vivacious 18-year-old, herself a keen artist and musician, set off from her home in Munich on an Interrail trip with the intention of taking in as much of the British Isles as her brief trip and limited budget could afford her. On April 6 she was abducted after a ferry crossing from Scotland to Northern Ireland and brutally murdered in Ballypatrick Forest. The perpetrators have never been brought to justice despite many promising leads. It’s a case that has consumed Keeley’s imagination over the course of a personal 8-year investigation. It’s become the framework around which all of her songs attempt to harness the joys and wide-eyed wonder of youth, to chronicle a journey which began with hope and ended in tragedy.

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Keeley elaborates… “I’ve often been asked why I choose to write about only one subject, and one that might seem macabre to the uninitiated. But to me Inga’s story is full of hope, vitality, beauty, mystery, and poignancy. I felt a burning compulsion to make it my mission in life to memorialise her short life any way I could, and I approach each song from a different angle every time. It’s an endless source of inspiration to me. I suppose I could write in a conventional way about love, angst and the like, but that’s not me. I don’t have relationships, I don’t have holidays, pets or even a TV. Music is everything to me, it’s the greatest thing in the world, and the visionary vessel through which I connect to my muse and facilitate the flow of songs that provide a vehicle for her voice”.

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A documentary film about Keeley’s involvement in the Inga Maria Hauser murder case and her life in music is in development from the producers of the acclaimed film “From Scotland With Love”. This hybrid feature length documentary film investigates the theme of violence against women and the failure of justice through a feminist lens.

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On the live front, KEELEY has become its own sonic odyssey this past year. Now featuring bassist Lukey Foxtrot and drummer Andrew Paresi (ex-Morrissey), the trio has recently toured with Britpop legends Echobelly and will hit the road in support of the new album on the following UK dates.

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Following a recent stretch of shows with Miki Berenyi Trio and Folk Devils, KEELEY are currently opening for 90s alt-rockers Terrorvision, plus a festival appearance at the Shiiine On Weekender this November. Our reviewer will be at the Lemon Tree gig on Saturday 28th September 2024 so watch this space for their thoughts.

Further information: https://keeleysound.com/

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Maria Robertson is the Chief Music & Theatre Writer for the 5D Pop Culture Website and provides reviews & coverage of local Aberdeen music & theatre gigs. She’s an experienced writer for numerous sources and is a self-confessed live gig addict ever since seeing The Counting Crows at the Barrowlands in 1994.

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