With quiet and swelling power, Jack Keyes is back with “Nowhere”

Some songs try to be deep, others are surprisingly deep, but the lead single from Jack Keyes’s upcoming album, Dissolving in Dusk, is deeper than expected. “Nowhere” dives into the existential search for belonging and finding peace with oneself. The quiet, reserved vocal delivery lends itself to intense contemplation of every word.

And while Jack Keyes starts this song quietly, the swelling layers build and build, leading to a cathartic release. His soft-spoken voice floats over the chords. If you listen carefully, you can hear his fingers picking individual strings, the intimate chirp of his hand sliding from chord to chord, and the gently blooming cymbals expanding into the quiet Keyes has created.

The understated instrumentation and arrangement draw you in, inviting you to contemplate inner peace alongside him. The guitar, melodically echoing the vocal line, feels like the reverberations of thoughts.

Each lyric straddles the darkness. “I caught a firefly. Now that light dies,” Jack Keyes sings. Out of context, his haunting; within context, it’s contemplative. The search for self is equally complex.

Stream “Nowhere” below.

Ben McCoy

Ben is an advertising Madman who spends his days with words and music. When he’s not writing for his supper, he’s eating it at some of NYC’s most interesting restaurants.