CD Review: Danny Keane, Kinesis

Six years after his debut Roamin’, Danny Keane returns with a record shaped by an unusually rich apprenticeship. In the interim he has toured and recorded with Mulatu Astatke, Anoushka Shankar and Nitin Sawhney, and Kinesis reads as the moment where those experiences stop being influences he passes through and start being materials he composes with. It’s a genuinely strong record, and one that rewards close listening.

The album’s investigation of movement — Keane’s own phrase for its organising idea — is audible from the outset. ‘Running’ opens with tabla sitting alongside mridangam, ghatam and morsing, a percussion combination drawn from South Indian classical music that gives the track its drive without ever feeling like a stylistic add-on. Trumpet and tenor carry the melody before Keane takes a piano solo that builds steadily in intensity, and the trumpet and saxophone solos that follow are notable for their control of dynamics rather than sheer heat.

‘Passing Time’ changes the temperature considerably. A simple piano motif governs the piece’s melodic and harmonic movement, and the arrangement — including some carefully judged MIDI string writing — has an esoteric, unhurried quality that sets it apart from the opener. ‘Cathartic Chaos’ is built around a synth based sequence and a cello motief carrying the melody, with an overall colour that leans distinctly toward Asian musical vocabulary; it’s arguably the album’s most adventurous three minutes, and a track that eclectic-minded DJs will find plenty to work with. Keane has spoken about the piece’s roots in his collaboration with oud player Adnan Joubran, noting a shared background in classical training despite the different traditions each of them comes from.

‘Somnolent Stomp’ earns its title honestly — a dark, late-night piece with a faint Bolero pulse buried underneath, the kind of track that rewards a late listen with headphones. ‘A Major Minor Waltz’ is the most conventional piece on the record, a fairly standard jazz waltz that shifts between major and minor without resolving the question its title poses. It’s the one moment where I kept expecting a twist that never arrived — though whether that’s a shortcoming or simply the point is worth sitting with.

The album closes with ‘Time To Go’, stripped back to the trio of Keane, Jon Thorne on double bass and Sarathy Korwar on drums. A dark introduction with an echo effect gives the track a loose, shuffle feel before it builds through some lovely piano playing to a straight perfect cadence — a genuinely fitting conclusion. Keane has described the track’s origins in a shared house he lived in for twenty years with close friends and collaborators, a period he calls both an amazing time and, eventually, an unsustainable one. That personal weight is audible in the writing, and it gives the album’s closing statement on movement — knowing when to leave a good thing — real substance rather than sentiment for its own sake.

Kinesis is an excellent, well-sequenced record from a musician who has clearly used his years as a collaborator wisely. Highly recommended.

Personnel:
Danny Keane, piano, Fender Rhodes, analogue synths, cello, organ, arrangements, string arrangement, programming | Sarathy Korwar, drums | Jon Thorne, double bass | Ruth Goller, electric bass guitar | Byron Wallen, trumpet | James Arben, tenor saxophone, baritone saxophone, bass clarinet | Aref Durvesh, tabla | Pirashanna Thejaravah, mridangam, ghatam, morsing

Release Date: 14 August 2026
Format: CD | Streaming
Label: MVKA

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