dEUS
Keep You Close

I believe it's the power of the name dEUS that makes me hunch over my notepad (saying Word sounds too pretentious) to talk about Music, a word that with the "Belpaese" the more time passes, the less it fits (unless you delve into the sad but productive underground).

Apart from the frustrated digression, I was disappointed with Vantage Point, or rather, an acute of goodwill got the better of objectivity, so I gave it a "permissive" judgment. What is now dEUS's penultimate work was indeed an enjoyable product for those approaching them for the first time, but not digestible for fans branded like hot iron with the echo of the screeching strings of "Worst Case Scenario," the unpredictable ballads of "In A Bar Under The Sea," or the electro-psycho-soft shocks of "Ideal Crash" still in their stomachs.

Better to admit it right away though: let's forget those dEUS, it's normal, perhaps it's the right thing to do.
In some moments of this "Keep You Close," it seems that the head Barista and his helpers have had a facelift to look like the eclectic crazies of the past even though the line-up is no longer the historic one. It seems like it, yes. But it's also true that facelifts don't bring great benefits (see Nina Moric). But I said "moments" indeed. So let's be clear, "Keep You Close" is the best thing birthed after Ideal Crash (along with the first two tracks of "Pocket Revolution"). Easy, you'll say. In any case, for a week now, I can't help but listen at least once a day to the track that gives the album its name. Keep You Close is a gem, a piece of rare intensity with a perfect line and vocal execution.
Rarely have I heard Tom Barman release his voice so warm and enveloping. Sparse in guitars, the piece in question is almost worth the album alone (like when they say "that goal alone is worth the ticket price") but, I know, one can't be content with just a great piece.
Thus, between strings that inject melancholy and a xylophone bouncing on the carpet, we move on to the excellent "The Final Blast," one of the album's peaks for sound and inspiration. These are the dEUS I would like to hear today (without expecting a "Jigsaw You"), curious and therefore, never banal.

But it seems difficult today to ask your historic favorite bands to produce something significant without seeing them trip over themselves. Even if I paint the record in question as the best since "Ideal Crash," the no longer young ones from Antwerp fall into two or three essentially useless passages, those that see them dangerously dabble in pretending to be stars (stars they actually never were nor will be, except for Tom Barman in live shows who likes very much to impersonate such) strumming banal tunes and filling the tracks cited with unappealing choruses and cues (a bit the summary of the previous record). Pieces like "Ghost" or especially "Constant Now" (I can't understand why make this the first single) I just can't digest. They end up being sad Architectures (for those who want to catch it) without a real soul, more than anything else, not very credible, contrived.
The worst, however, is over, so if we except these slips, the work as a whole is more than dignified. Going back to talk about the more significant things of this "Keep You Close," "Twice" as well as "The End Of Romance" are an integral part of it.

As soon as they lower the BPM crank, dEUS light up, overshadowing the rest. They are still capable of producing in their dark strokes (see "Easy") alternating more contrasting moments within a single track without losing the compass. Damn, they are still dEUS, right? Or do you prefer hit-and-run songs and gelled bangs of new indie meteors? Between distorted basses, hopping pianos, and fucking romantic lyrics (way more than End Of Romance...) close your eyes in the album's epilogue, you'll realize that even without the Barman's vocal cords there's still something important that reaches your ears pampered by the grumpy masterpieces they've gifted us over time.

It's necessary to offer them a new chance.