Midland Vibes

Keo Put A Smile On For Me

Tracks: Be Happy, That's Me, Fly, Best I Can Do, Bird On The Wire, Pistol, Loser, Black Dates, Blue Song, Thorn, Spent On You

Label: Island Records

Keo’s Put A Smile On For Me arrives with a weight of expectation already attached to it. Comparisons to Nirvana have preempted the record’s release, inevitably setting the bar high for a debut from a band still establishing exactly who they are. Yet rather than buckle beneath those expectations, Keo meets them with a confidence that makes this feel less like an introduction and more like a statement of intent.

There are echoes of the alternative rock tradition that shaped them, but Keo never sounds as though they are simply retracing familiar ground. The guitars have heft, the rhythms carry real urgency, and Finn Keogh’s vocals can shift from vulnerable restraint to full-throated release, giving the songs an emotional volatility that feels instinctive rather than calculated. Crucially, the energy belongs to Keo. Their influences may be audible, but they never overwhelm the band’s own character.

That sense of identity is strongest when Keo allows their songs room to develop. Tracks such as Thorn and Loser thrive on tension, with the band finding power in contrast rather than relying solely on volume. Elsewhere, Be Happy and That’s Me capture the immediacy that has clearly made their live shows so effective, while quieter moments demonstrate that there is more to this band than raw momentum.

What makes Put A Smile On For Me particularly compelling is the feeling that Keo are still discovering the full extent of what they can do. There are moments when their instincts feel completely realised, alongside passages where the influence of their predecessors remains more apparent. But even then, the record never feels like an exercise in imitation. There is a restlessness running through it, a willingness to push at the edges of their sound and see where it takes them.

For a debut, that is an exciting prospect. Put A Smile On For Me is compelling and refreshing, establishing Keo as a band with huge potential while already delivering enough evidence of that potential in the present. The Nirvana comparisons may have raised expectations before the record even arrived, but Keo have answered them in the best possible way: by sounding like themselves.