Keith Randall is a guitar player, composer and multi-instrumentalist producer from Hershey, Pennsylvania. He is also one half of Keith & Sonya, a Country music duo that performs throughout the Northeast. His partner in music and in life, Keith’s wife Sonya is an accomplished saxophonist and violinist.
“I Feel It Too” is the debut solo EP from Keith Randall, released worldwide to all major streaming services on February 18, 2022. The record was a production experiment of sorts for the musician. He chose to limit the recording to only instruments which either he or Sonya could reproduce live. The only exception being the drums, which he programmed. That meant no fancy sequencing or otherwise impossible to play robot music.
While I’m proud of my performance on the guitar, I am much more proud of the sonic textures I was able to create between the various instruments we used in the studio.
Keith Randall
The result is a beautiful organic recording featuring Keith Randall on guitar, bass, and keys and Sonya Randall on violin and sax. The five-track instrumental EP is a testament to both musicians’ prowess as performers and to Keith’s abilities as a composer. He has a knack for writing melodies that you think you’ve heard before. You haven’t, but now you won’t forget them.
The record opens with Keith Randall alone, plucking the arpeggios of “Bacchanal” on his nylon string guitar. As the band slowly joins in, they ease us into a mid tempo Eastern European Folk Jazz groove. According to Webster’s, a bacchanal is “an occasion of wild and drunken revelry.” With that in mind, the song moves through the phases of happiness and melancholy typical of such occasions, from a joyous Slavic party to a sorrowful cinematic score, and then back again.
“Lovers in the Rain ” digs deeper into the Jazz with a funky bit of time-signature sophistication. Bass and drums introduce the groove. As the track progresses, guitar, violin and piano all ride that cool Latin Jazz funk. Keith Randall the composer takes a number of creative twists and turns along the way, with jazzy transitions and a temporary lane change into a sort of Western Pop feel in the bridge. It’s a fun track with plenty of great playing from the entire Randall clan.
A tightly knit melody and three-beat rhythm make up the central theme of the EP’s hypnotic title track. Keith’s guitar, bass and piano take turns painting the edges of the mix with a bit of mellow Jazz improv color. “Avalon” introduces a retro Alt-Pop groove. The song alternates from a melodic Dark Pop 80’s vibe in the verse back to a Latin theme in the chorus. Sonya’s violin adds an epic feel which is only aided by Keith Randall’s pristine Spanish guitar.
The record closes on “The Hook-Up,” an upbeat Funk number that brings to mind some of Stevie Wonder’s jazzier work. The mix of electric and acoustic instruments really shines on this track, giving a cool depth to the recording. Later in the song, the mood mellows to a half time Pop groove as Sonya’s violin serves up another immediately familiar Keith Randall melody.
Check out “I Feel It Too” below, or listen on your favorite streaming service. You can also hear the song “Avalon” on the Deep Indie Chill playlist. Follow the links below to connect with Keith Randall. Get on his socials and get in the loop on all of the music to come from this talented duo.
