If anyone ever tries to convince you that the technology that was enabled sampling and all the studio innovations that much modern music is built on has taken all the skill out of writing songs, then just play them The Keymakers. There will always be those artist who use such advancements to make up for any lack of requisite skills, but this duo certainly is not one of them. The Keymakers instead use the studio itself as an instrument, make (largely) digital magic and then learn how to replicate it live, as the accompanying video shows.
And whereas some people working with synths and samples are merely manipulating a pretty much pre-recorded series of sound files, instead this duo prove to be as dexterous and deft as anyone wielding more traditional instruments. Waves of interwoven keyboards, vocals, drum pads and even saxophone are built around their sampled sounds into a chilled and futuristic, slice of sonic electro-soul-pop gold.
Technology hasn’t replaced musicianship, imagination and creativity, it has merely given it new tools to work with and the proof is there in the way artists like The Keymakers make music. This is evolution at work. This is progress. This is what the future, or at least one part of it, looks like.
