Annie Keating
Hard Frost
Self Released
1 June 2023
Based in Brooklyn but a regular visitor to UK venues (see upcoming tour dates below), the last time Annie Keating was in the UK, the smoky-voiced singer songwriter previewed some of the songs on Hard Frost, her ninth full-length album, several of them getting early exposure on the Twenty-22 Tour EP only available at shows, so anticipation has been running high. Like Bristol County Tides, it’s produced by Teddy Kumpel, who also provides guitars alongside bassist Richard Hammond, drummer Steve Williams and Todd Caldwell on keyboards.
It opens up with Lies and Dynamite, a moody, confessionally sung twanged guitar co-write with Lynne Hanson who also joins on harmonies, the first of several dealing with the pain of heartbreak (“Preston park after dark, burying a broken heart/With your kisses my wishes and the truth… Now its New York City in the Fall/Graffiti covers every wall/Of the buildings on the block outside my room/Forgiveness may be a state of grace/But there’s just some things you can’t erase/It’s like diving in a shallow backyard pool”) that has Kumpel delivering a fierce solo.
A highlight of last year’s tour, delivered in intimate breathy tones and with hints of the John Prine influence that percolates through her work, the organ-backed Looking for Trouble slows the pace as she sings “wasn’t looking for trouble, I wasn’t looking to fall/ I wasn’t looking for anyone special, coz I wasn’t looking at all/ But nobody knows when lightening will strike/And thunder can’t be seen coming/Right from the start you woke my sleeping heart though I did not see you coming”, bringing notes of unexpected hope to alleviate the hurt.
Prine’s spirit is especially in evidence on the countrified fingerpicked jog of Keepsakes and Heartbreaks, a post-divorce rumination of what was and what remains (“I’m staring at the table where my ring sits/Wondering what on earth I’m gonna do with it/You’re gone but it’s still here my wedding band/For so many years it lived upon my hand/Do I throw it in the river or keep it safe/Is it now bad luck or just an old keep sake”), the memories bitter and sweet as Kumpel’s guitar solo resonates.
Organ anchoring the groove, released as a single last year Sunshine Parade is a slow blues that again has her refusing to wallow in post-breakup self-pity (“I won’t cry no tears for you/ I’ve got too much good living to do… I’d rather be dancing than stuck in bed”). Shifting into waltz mode, Falling serves up a witty ‘if I were’ list that captures the feelings of wanting to express your heart as love overwhelms it (“If I were a boxer I wouldn’t stay down/You’d see my swinging through the very last round… If you were a book I’d write the next chapter”).
Another highlight from the tour, featuring slide guitar, Lovesick Blues swings back to a swampy organ-driven groove that serves as a thematic lovesick companion to Falling, again with that Keating flip humour folded into the lyric as she sings “Write a song and make beef stew/I’m still up a midnight missing you”.
Of the three remaining cuts that also featured on the EP, the slow-walking, semi-spoken Belly Of The Beast addresses the vulnerability that falling in love can make you feel (“Love made a mess of me /I’m still trying to find my feet”) but also the resilience to survive and emerge stronger when it ends (“Heartbreak like a bullet, but for you I took it/Why couldn’t you keep our love true…I’ve got fire in my chest and rain in my heart/Been playing with the dragon’s breath/But you don’t scare me now, cause nothing scares me now”). A personal highlight on EP and now here is the smoky whispering slow sway Wrong Guy’s Girl, a whimsical travelogue of romantic encounters and mishaps that roams from Paris and Madrid to Inverness and Corfu with Japan and the Yucatan on the bucket list, though at its heart is the longing for an old flame (“I sure do love to roam but if there’s one place I could go/It’s back to our conversation/Because darling you’ve been on my mind ever since then”). The third is Feels Like Home, a dreamy, dampened pulsing percussion and jazz-shaded keyboards ballad about longing for a past love (“Was it easy to forget me or do you fail from time to time/When the North wind starts blowin’ I know what you’re hoping to find/Cause when I’m driving, windows open it’s you on my mind/I keep my promise, I keep my distance but it’s you I’m hoping to find”).
The last of the original material is the previously unheard Witness, a ticking percussion, chiming guitar mid-tempo song of support (“If your heart aches, I’ll carry the weight/Get you on through the garden gate …I’ll give you shelter and my shoulder”) that builds to a soaring climax and features another standout Kumpel solo. It ends with a surprise, a slowed-down, bluesy, half-spoken, prowling version of The Police’s 1978 classic So Lonely that kicks the reggae into touch and has her vocally shredding the title refrain while the bluesy guitar sets the scenery ablaze. A hard frost is where both the air and the ground freeze, one in which only the sturdiest of plants can survive. With this outstanding album, Keating again proves herself a true enduring perennial in her chosen field.
Bandcamp: https://anniekeating1.bandcamp.com/album/hard-frost
ANNIE KEATING – UK & SCOTLAND TOUR: AUTUMN ‘23
1/9 – Ashcroft Arts Centre – Fareham, UK
2/9 – Little Rabbit Barn – Essex, UK
3/9 – Head for the Hills Festival – Bury, UK
5/9 – House Concert – Liverpool, UK (email info@anniekeating for info)
6/9 – The Atkinson – Southport, UK
7/9 – Glad Cafe – Glasgow, Scotland
8/9 – Biggar Corn Exchange – Biggar, Scotland
9/9– Filey Americana – Filey, UK
10/9– The Live Rooms – Saltaire, UK
12/9 – Kitchen Garden Café – Birmingham, UK
13/9 –What’s Cookin – London area, UK
14/9 – Chapel Arts Center – Bath, UK
15/9 –Jericho Tavern double bill w/the Steady Habits – Oxford UK
16/9 – Eastwell Village Hall – Eastwell, UK
17/9 – The John Peel Centre –Stowmarket, UK