If Prince wrote a whole EP for Placebo expounding the flashy, deathly seediness of the Hollywood circuit through flourishes of jazz and avant-garde funk guitar twangs, we reckon it may have sounded something like the record Coventry performer Duke Keats has put together for his latest luxuriant EP release – ‘Dirty Glamour’.
Essentially a selection of songs recorded live, testament to Keats’ on-stage set up is the fact that it’s barely noticeable, the saxophone and booming bass creating a bleak and sleazy world in battle with the charismatic frontman’s feline vocals and spellbinding synths, with only a hint of echo and ripples of delight from the crowd giving the lo-fi concert-recording game away.
The faded movie star sheen gets spread across four tracks that careen from perching on the Hollywood sign on ‘Again’ (“I’m sitting on the sign, The sign is not your friend”), a grimy, sloping proposition on ‘Skid Row’, the alluring lights and candy canes of ‘Fairground’ and ‘Damn Dara’, the sordid tale of a doomed Mulholland Drive Lynchian actress.
Duke Keats’ ‘Dirty Glamour’ EP was released on 9th June 2023 and you can listen to it right about now on Spotify below: