Melbourne new-comer, Andrew Keese and his loyal merry men, The Associates, come to the plate with a very well thought out debut album, Desire.

It’s easy to get lost in the mountains of novelty type releases either coming through my computer or piling up on my desk. There’s a real trend in being ‘ultra’ cool at the moment, especially with Melbourne bands. Artists will forever quickly come and go, but I think Andrew Keese could stick around a little longer than most.

While listening to Keese’ debut I couldn’t help but think how good it would sound with a glass of red wine at arms length. Hell, I’d consider taking up smoking again for some of these tunes. The record is probably more adult contemporary than anything else and Keese is a singer/songwriter, evoking intelligent and poignant pop/rock songs.

While not necessarily genre-defying or new, their songs maintain a classic, timeless feel, augmented by carefully wrought lyrics, an impassioned vocal delivery and rich musical arrangements.

 Little Possessions sets the pace only giving way to the more aggressive Transmission, which is somewhat a little out of place compared to the emotional twists and turns that really make the record. Desire was recorded and produced by Tony Cohen (Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, The Go Betweens etc) and the production is very layered and educated. You get the impression that Cohen enjoyed mixing the album. This is very evident on the first single, Blessed are the Meek, where string and piano arrangements really begin to boil.

Keese speaks of paranoia, self doubt and internal demons, referring to them as ‘Shadows’ in possibly my favourite track, The Shadows. If you’ve recently been dumped, I’d advise that you skip track 8, Singapore. As Keese wails about longing for his partner and finding himself drunk in unfamiliar bars, you can’t help but image yourself in similar situations.

‘Desire has many faces, it hides in the darkest of places, so keep a star in the night of your heart and find someone to watch over you,’ sings Keese in title track Desire as the album comes to a positive finish. 

Desire is a competent debut release but more importantly, the band has successfully pieced together a complete album (start to finish), something pretty rare these days.