Listen to Pat Keen’s Outstanding “I Saw A Bug” (Minneapolis Release Show TODAY)
Minneapolis songwriter Pat Keen’s I Saw a Bug is the kind of album that transports the listener to far away places, even ones you may never have even been to before. Lost highways at sunset, a recliner with a cool beverage on a porch on a warm summer night, dipping your toes in a lake after a hot day.
It’s an instrumental record that evokes deeper meaning than most records with lyrics, painting pictures of the mind with colors that may not even exist yet. A melting pot of folk, jazz and pop, it’s a record that spans the American songbook in a way that feels fresh and new. From the warm, circular folk of “Full Worm Moon” to the whimsical “Rooftop” to the melancholy finger charm of “Nambe,” it’s a record that flows like a river throughout it’s brisk 16 songs, melding together in a way that makes it a record I’ve listened to front to back more times than I can count.
While I stand by the “sum is somehow even greater than the parts,” it also has many moments that leave the listener in awe. When the counter melody hits on”Hopper,” it’s the kind of dizzying joy that feels like a hot air ballon taking off on a warm late summer morning. The winding melody of “Strum” is the kind of music that doesn’t need words to sound lyrical and evoke a bubbling rush of feelings in the listener. It is a stunning album that knocked me over the first time I heard it, and has provided new caverns and fields to explore every time I’ve listened to it. It’s both immediate and timeless, and easily in the running for my favorite album (local or national) of the year.
While we always love to highlight local Minnesota music, it is worth noting that this record comes with a pretty awesome stamp of approval being put out by the always-great Island House Records, which if you aren’t familiar with you should be. I pretty much buy everything they put out, so it was exciting to have a Minnesota artist pop up on their roster.
Keen will be celebrating this amazing release on Saturday, August 24th at Berlin in Minneapolis. Tickets/Info HERE.
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