KEO - Put A Smile On For Me

And yet there's something beautiful, something poetic, if you'll forgive the exaggeration, in these times of distributive fragmentation, of playlists devouring albums, of pulverized output and the impossibility of forming any overall picture, of taking stock of the state of the art of contemporary music. It lies in stories like that of Keo. Four twenty-two-year-old Londoners who, in 2026, debut with an album that, judging by how it sounds, could have come out in 1990s America, not long after the tragic deaths of Kurt Cobain and Jeff Buckley. An album out of a time they never lived through, except through their parents' stories and records, and which they've probably reconstructed and absorbed thanks to the hyper-accessibility granted to them by modern times and platforms.

Finn and Conor Keogh, respectively the band's singer and guitarist/bassist, are the sons of Irish folkster Davey Keogh, and have been accompanying their dad around the world since the age of 9, when they also started writing songs. When the two brothers moved to London a few years back, they met lead guitarist Jimmy Lanwern, a fanatic in equal measure of J Mascis and Johnny Greenwood, and drummer/sound engineer Oliver Spackman, and together they brought this project to life.

As mentioned, grunge and everything that came after it are the band's lifeblood, and to an untrained ear they could genuinely sound like they belong to that time and place. The opening arpeggio of "Best I Can Do" betrays millions of listens to "In Utero", for instance. While the sweetness of ballads like "Thorn" and, above all, "Spent On You" shows that the band isn't even ashamed to betray listens to the likes of Goo Goo Dolls and Nickelback.
What elevates Keo above mere revivalism, though, are two essential factors. The first is their command of the sound, which takes shape in a granite-solid rhythm section and a blazing, impetuous guitar style. The second is the quality of Finn Keogh's songwriting, which gives rise to lyrics that are authentic, melancholic and programmatically anguished, always ready to spill over into choruses you'll have memorized after a couple of listens. That's the case with the opening one-two of "Be Happy" and "That's Me", and with the creeping "Bird On The Wire". For this writer, though, it's the obsessive, lava-like "Loser" that takes the prize as the album's standout track.

Set aside any preconceptions about a band of twenty-somethings celebrating grunge in 2026, from London no less, and all that's left to do is enjoy one of the year's finest debuts.

Ride the wave of great music

Add OndaRock to your favorite sources on Google Discover. Don't miss our reviews, milestones and latest news straight in your feed.

Follow on Google

02/10/2026