“So Long Emily” by Brian Keith

Brian Keith has been making some big waves in the last year. He’s been gaining a lot of buzz around the underground lately, and since his new single “So Long Emily,” the press has made sure to keep the buzz steadily growing into the spring of 2023. Despite all of the recent success, Keith sounds nothing but humble when we listen to the harmonies that drive “So Long Emily;” his velvety voice is as glowing as ever, and his attention to even the most minor of detail has never been quite as sharp as it is today. 

There’s no debating the indie cred that Brian Keith has in the studio, and that’s made more than clear to anyone who listens to this track. The emotion is unvarnished and essentially left in the state we might find it in during a live performance, and although he’s backed by a more than capable group of players comprising his band, there’s never any question as to whether or not this is Keith’s show from start to finish.

He’s a commanding force to be reckoned with, and where his poetry leaves little room for interpretation, his passion is obvious to any who hears his work. The melodic parts in “So Long Emily” have a terrific finish, and cosmetically speaking, I think they might be the most stunning element in this track. The master mix gives them the lion’s share of the spotlight as we build up to the chorus, but once the main hook digs into our hearts in the fever pitch of the song, it’s hard to tell where Brian Keith is sourcing all of the thrills from – his voice, or the talented backing band that happens to be supporting him in this latest release. 

I noticed right off the bat that this song had a much heavier bassline than any of the other tracks coming out of his scene in the past few months have, but I suppose that I get why Keith decided to add the extra weight to this particular number. It enhances the swing in the beat more than it would have been were the drums positioned as the sole powertrain in the groove, and in terms of how danceable a song this is, I don’t think there’s another track in this artist’s discography quite as beat-focused and incontrovertibly addictive as this sleek country prize is. 

He’s come a long way in a fairly short amount of time for sure, but I’m not convinced that we’ve seen the creative peak of one Brian Keith quite yet. There’s no getting around just how in tune with his medium he sounds in this release, and if you ask me, I think there’s a lot of evidence that suggests Keith is going to be diversifying his musical approach as he looks toward the next chapter of his story. “So Long Emily” is his new benchmark, but knowing this artist, it’s going to be surpassed a lot quicker than any of us could predict at this moment in time.

Mindy McCall