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Kinesis

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Danny Keane

Label: MVKA
Released: 2026
Duration: 00:39:45
Views: 19

Tracks

Running Passing Time Cathartic Chaos Somnolent Stomp A Major Minor Waltz Time To Go

Personnel

Album Description

Kinesis Album Bio

Award-winning multi-instrumentalist, composer and producer Danny Keane recertifies his place as one of the UK’s most agile, shapeshifting artists with his long-awaited sophomore album, Kinesis.

The Anglo-Irish artist is regularly called on to collaborate with some of the most highly renowned artists of our time including Mulatu Astatke, Anoushka Shankar, Nitin Sawhney, Damon Albarn, Penguin Café and The Heliocentrics to name just a few. Now, following a heavy touring schedule and six years after his debut Roamin’, it’s Keane’s turn to call on the musicians around him to bring his vision into being. Kinesis is a truly-genre defying body of work that will appeal to fans of Mammal Hands, Shabaka Hutchings, Anoushka Shankar and Nik Bärtsch.

Kinesis investigates the role of movement in our lives through multiple narratives; the extensive travel he’s undertaken since his debut album with the father of Ethio-jazz, Mulatu Astatke, the creative use of metre that’s found throughout Kinesis and, on a personal level, knowing when to say goodbye to a good thing. It’s also a statement of intent, having reflected on the pressures he once felt when he was younger to specialise in a particular area of music, and the increasing urge of late to rechannel his abundant creativity into his own projects.

One of the greatest influences on Kinesis came from wisdom learnt whilst on the road with Astatke, who would personally pick Keane up from the airport before taking him around Addis to jam with his friends. “He really looked after me. He even bought me a masenqo [a traditional Ethiopian string instrument]. You see them everywhere in traditional bars; musicians just grab them off the wall and start playing, a bit like an Irish session”, laughs Keane.

“With Mulatu’s career winding down, I’ve realized what a great band that is. Those musicians are so important as friends, but also as inspirations”, explains Keane. “The joy of working with them has been quite important. We played the EFG London Jazz Festival in November at the Royal Festival Hall, and it was just an amazing way to draw it to a close—on stage with my closest friends and biggest inspirations”. Some of those friends—trumpeter Byron Wallen, saxophonist/clarinetist James Arben and percussionist Richard Olatunde Baker—joined Keane for his album.

Keane’s curiosity for Jazz and the freedom that the genre grants, coupled with meeting Mulatu, has helped to shape Kinesis. “Mulatu’s commitment to having your own voice is really brilliant. Coming up through a standard Classical music education in this country, you focus on the curriculum; there’s less emphasis on finding your own approach. I thought there was only one way things needed to be”.

On Kinesis, Keane gathered musicians that he’d toured extensively with for Astatke, Shankar and Nitin. “Progressive drummer Sarathy Korwar, multi-percussionist Pirashanna Thejaravah and tabla-player Aref Durvesh reflect Keane’s deep appreciation for Indian Classical music that runs throughout Kinesis. Meanwhile, Keane’s love for strings sings too; violinists Tom Pigott-Smith, Oli Langford, and Max Baillie (who plays viola here), cellist Ian Burdge and oud player Adnan Joubran add flair to the record but—with string arrangements by Keane—it’s rarely in conventional ways. Also joining Keane on the record are bassists Ruth Goller and Jon Thorne, the aforementioned trumpeter Byron Wallen and saxophonist/clarinetist James Arben, percussionist Richard Olatunde Baker and tuba player Ed Ashby.

Kinesis boasts six tracks, each starkly distinctive but with a thread that effortlessly connects them all. Opener Running is structured around a riff on the keys in ⅞, from which the track blossoms with a pulsating momentum. Two sections in different keys give the illusion of travel on the emotive Passing Time, drawing influence from Indian rhythms with hypnotic patterns of three over a 4/4 beat.

Cathartic Chaos is no doubt a fresh wild card for the most eclectic of DJs. It sees Keane lay down an exhilarating foundation with his Moog arpeggiator for Palestinian oud player Adnan Joubran (Le Trio Joubran) to dance upon. “We both come from classical training. His isn't Western classical, but those traditional trainings are similar. You can just tell with him that he just wants to let rip and I do as well… he’s jaw-droppingly amazing”, says Keane.

Much like a live Fela Kuti number, Somnolent Stomp holds the listener in a tantric state for a generous time before reaching an improvised climax. “It’s built on a riff in 5/4 that is harmonically quite interesting. It’s got an E bass pedal, but over the top, you’ve got an F minor. Like with Cathartic Chaos, I formed a scale for the Moog to exist in and for people to improvise on”. For Keane, Somnolent Stomp was something of a first; “I’ve always wanted to have a ‘free’ collective improvisation section—it was amazing. There were moments where we were all feeding off each other and collectively shaping the sound as one entity”

Major Minor Waltz is a luscious quintet offering. Reinstating the themes of movement and time, it constantly shifts between keys. "Is this a major thing or a minor thing? You can make your own mind up about whether it resonates as happy or sad”.

Delivered by a trio of Danny Keane (piano), Jon Thorne (double bass) and Sarathy Korwar (drums), closing track Time To Go strips matters right back. It’s a deeply personal composition for Keane that embodies the bittersweet sorrow that the passing of time forces us to confront.

“I lived in a ‘music house’ for twenty years with a lot of my best mates”, says Keane. “It was crazy—endless parties. We all played together, toured together, and wrote together. It was an amazing time in my life, but eventually, it became dysfunctional. I realised I had to leave that place”. Keane shares that the closing track encapsulates the spirit of Kinesis. “In a way, the whole album is about that—moving forward”.

Kinesis is the second album from the musician’s musician; Danny Keane, a misfit who—to our benefit—sees no boundaries in his musical excursions. Kinesis will draw in like-minded listeners who thrive on the spirit of musical discovery, story-telling and curiosity.

Album uploaded by Asher Alexander