Keo ‘Put A Smile On Me’ review: A brilliantly brutal debut album from rising rockers

This has been a long time coming. Keo have steadily cultivated a fanbase desperate to hear what a debut, full-length LP from the London based four-piece would sound like and, finally, with Put A Smile On For Me, they have an answer: it sounds brilliantly brutal.

There’s not a moment when frontman Finn Keogh shies away from scathing introspection. The title of the opening track ‘Be Happy’ writes a cheque the lyrical content elects not to cash. Over sailing guitars and crashing symbols, Finn professes: “I wanna be happy, if that stuff’s true, I wanna be happy, just like you.” Come the end of the song, a whisper turns to more of a desperate yelp: “Never mind, never mind, never mind.” That’s as uplifting as the record gets.

In the very next song ‘That’s Me’, Finn laments his flaws: “That’s me that gets in your way, that’s me sucking the life from her, that’s me, I’ve become a fucking plague.” The later track ‘Loser ‘begins similarly self-loathingly, before erupting into a nihilistic symphony.

Throughout their debut, Finn dives headfirst into the painful and challenging emotions that ruminate and fester in all of us, largely in the context of a doomed relationship. You’ll find frustration and bitterness in ‘Fly’, regret and guilt in ‘Pistol’ and a cocktail of confusion, anger and longing in ‘Thorn’.

All that heaviness and discomfort exist among superb instrumentation and lo-fi production (courtesy of Finn and guitarist Jimmy Lanwern). You can hear their influences spread out from track to track, from nineties grunge to early Radiohead to the vocal tones of Ben Howard. There’s a notable versatility here, as all those influences coexist alongside barbed guitars, pounding drums, and distortion and feedback which paint as vivid a picture as Finn’s lyricism. The world Keo inhabit has jagged edges; their debut album, recorded all-but live over a 10-day period, does too.

All of which has helped to hone a formidable live reputation. Their October UK headline tour is already sold out, and it’s of little surprise. This is music which is meant to be heard live, to be felt pulsating and chattering through every bone in your body. As far as debut albums go, it’s mission accomplished and then some.