Michael Keane's "Distance Major": An Audiovisual Exploration of Space, Memory, and Synthstasy Album

Distance Major, Michael Keane's self-titled debut record as a composer from New Jersey, boldly leaps into the twilight zone between instrumental rock and electronic storytelling. Nine tracks meld analogue synth texturalities, improvisational rock drive, and ambient emotionality into a record that sounds like part science-fiction score, part progressive indie soundtrack. From the very first moments of the record, it's clear that this is not background music; it invites you in, immerses you in listening, and asks that you think.

Keane is at his strongest in creating a sense of movement without using words. Tracks develop and collapse like weather systems held together by pulsing synthesizers, leaping harmonies, and prog-driven momentum. Distance Major avoids nostalgia, mirroring some retro sounds in materials, avant-garde sci-fi instruments and harmonies, adding a modern cinematic feel to some elements akin to U.N.K.L.E. and The Postal Service. What emerges swinging in the emotional nature of the whole is the surprise that the uninhibited sounds and below vocal melodies can evoke such human or emotional sentiments.

Many instrumental offerings get lost in repetition. This record is searching, climbing, wandering, questioning. You can feel the spirit of improvisation alive, curious, in a box. At its best, Distance Major sits in that rare space where the listener can either page through each layer analytically or close their eyes and drift away.

It is expressive, risky, and refreshing in its disregard of trend-driven influences. To the discerning listener of instrumental music with a purpose, with a personality, and a pulse, Distance Major is an experience worth seeing through to the end.

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Bandcamp: https://distancemajor.bandcamp.com/album/distance-major