Gate 23 - Keep It Together (Review)
Planes, trains (of thought) and automobiles
When I’m thinking of up-and-coming indie rock quartet Keep It Together, it seems apt to recall Amy Poehler’s ‘Cool Mom’ in Mean Girls (2004). At almost every show, I’m bobbling around, digicam in hand, punctuating each song with a ‘woo!’ or a ‘Keep It Togethaaaaa’, if I’m feeling a bit rowdy. Can you blame me? Weaving little witticisms with some truly awe-inspiring arrangements, the band are, only a few years past the project’s conception, getting the recognition they deserve.
The reason I say I’m Cool Mom is because I’m lucky enough to call Jake Ennis, frontman and main vocalist/writer/social media intern of Keep It Together, one of my best friends. With now-dissolved band The Lone Ghosts, Ennis had already made a significant dent in the world of bedroom indie through the awesome power of TikTok, but by the time 2022’s debut, the ‘Red Flag’ EP, had released, it was clear there was something really special about Keep It Together.
Their fourth album, Gate 23, is the first to be released on a label, and follows the success of 2023’s Lost Dogs. Having garnered a dedicated fanbase off the back of roaring guitars and double-edged lyricism - ‘If I take stuff off my walls/It just takes up space on my floor’ - one would think it would be a hard act to follow. However, their newest venture only cements Keep It Together as past masters of slacker rock, whilst expanding on their universe ever more. The single ‘Late Night TV’ powers through the duration of the track, driven by skittering drums and a lead guitar like a bolt of lightning; the lyrics evoke a 21st Century Great Gatsby-ism, with 'when the green light illuminates the entire windshield/you know you're about to step out into a storm’ capping the particularly electrifying first verse. The collective human experience of being on public transport and having your inner monologue echoed by the weather, separated only by a pane of glass, is expertly translated into song like some sort of Rosetta Stone for the clinically depressed.
Vocalist, guitarist and recorder player Bitter Stemmed Fork (parents these days) takes more of a centre stage this album, with murmured vocals uplifting the crooning ode to Sheffield, ‘Meadowhall’. The song feels not dissimilar to a call-and-response, or a church sermon, with Ennis belting and BSF chanting back. It’s atmospheric, with each vocal part so different yet moving together to create a truly moving framework. Bitter Stemmed Fork also dominates the subdued acoustic track, ‘Abandoned Houses’; the lyrics relate a Gen Z perspective of the cost of living crisis - ‘Everything's so expensive/It's easier to find it for free/Online’, whether intentionally or otherwise, and culminates in a beautiful chorus of voices, which reminds me of the outro to Lucy Dacus’s song ‘Going Going Gone’. If the beginning of the track seems lonely, the ending feels like a reminder, nay reassurance, that you certainly are not alone.
The penultimate track, ‘Monuments’ is a real hit with fans, and I can see why. I’ve read some criticism against today’s DIY bands feeling the need to have longer, climactic songs in each album, as though imitating certain (to be unnamed!) bands, but my thinking is - if the spirit moves you, do it. Keep It Together have weaved together a rich tapestry over here. A sum of its parts, the song feels like multiple chapters of one overarching story. Bassist Mathurin Gatté reinforces a bubbling foundation, seemingly fit to explode at any given moment, while Ethan Patel closes the song with drums that rattle the walls. Listening to those ending drums for the first time feels like running, and I almost wish it were the finishing track just so I could sit with them for a little longer.
Release-day anecdote, if you’ll let me: I saw on Twitter that on the official Keep It Together Discord server, there would be a 9.30 listening party, two and a half whole hours before the album would be ready to stream. I had heard many of the songs, but in a half-finished Google Drive state, and of course wanted first dibs, but also was curious about a different aspect of the event. KIT have a thriving internet fanbase (Ennis will be making an appearance at this week’s Anthro New England), but the Discord server is filled with fan art, personal reviews, and friends made through a shared love of the band. I wanted to experience the music, not as a proud friend who has seen it evolve, but as a fan without the ability to necessarily be a live show regular. I was taken aback by what a personal, intimate experience it was: inside jokes, mothers on mics, and a complete separation between art and artist. I worry often that a lack of separation between audience and artist makes us feel too entitled to the latter’s personal life, but looking at the strength of the community Keep It Together have built for themselves, simply by being completely a part of their creation, it gives me a lot more faith in the future of bedroom rock. Love you guys.
Gate 23, and its siblings, are all available to stream/buy now from Bandcamp, Spotify and most streaming services.