Zack Keim - Battery Lane (2025)

Battery Lane, the highly anticipated—four years in the making—sophomore full-length album from Zack Keim is finally here. Alice, the opening track from his debut LP First Step, returns in a souped-up version, previous singles Canyon b/w Alice (a fine 7″ from 2022) and Better Days (my summer jam of 2023) are present, and we had already heard some of the newer tracks, which makes it almost feel like a greatest hits collection. The Pittsburgh-based singer-songwriter/multi-instrumentalist experiments with the proportions of indie folk (the largest part), power pop and garage rock as main ingredients, adds some country, glam, psych or baroque elements where necessary, and tops it off with influences from Vampire Weekend, Jonathan Richman or The Strokes. In most of the eleven songs, the charming artist slows down the tempo, but he doesn’t shy away from turning it up a moment later, just as he usually makes his vocals sound crystal clear, but just as easily gives them extra power or grit (please listen to 25 Years)—just depending on what the tune in question needs. Warm melodies, earworm hooks, attention to detail and variation in sound, what’s not to like?