Recently, I went to see Ed Sheeran in Clermont-Ferrand (review of his concert coming very soon), one of the gigs of his regional tour of France, and Ryan Keen was opening for his show. If you haven’t heard of him, you’re missing something, because this guy’s good.
At first, I was stricken by his charm and sweetness. He’s just the kind of guy that gives you a warm and fuzzy feeling, I just wanted to throw myself on that stage and give him a squeeze.
I was soon caught up his great guitar moves: very rythmic and crunchy touches with a soft edge. It really plunges you into his way of playing, and totally wins you over within a few seconds.
As soon as he started singing I was slightly confused because his voice sounded so alike to Sheeran’s, quite a simple middle-toned voice. He has a nice enounciation that I really like in music, and it makes you enjoy his delightfully metaphorical lyrics even more. He seems so innocent but also has such a heavy emotional backdrop at the same time. On his studio versions, I really like the second voice falsetto’s that add another dimension and reminded me of, funnily enough, the Arctic Monkeys (don’t ask me why).
Unfortunetaly, I noticed the slight lack of emotion in his voice, which just sounds drowned out by his awesome guitar technique. Shame, I like his tone of voice. It all doesn’t really melt together; then again I may be completely misinterpreting his intentions but I just felt as if there was something missing.
Here, see for youself: