An emotive exploration of family history through the lens of memory, The Wilde Oscars frontman revives the power of the oral tradition in this masterclass on contemporary folk. 

There are few inducted into the storied past of Dublin as well as the cult-treasure The Wilde Oscars. Led into the blaze of the nineties indie-folk scene by frontman Leslie (Les) Keye — a pioneer of the emotionally arresting Irishman phenomenon, the band left a trail of devotees in its path around the Dublin gigging circuit. A graduate of the ‘‘Grafton Street Buskers’’ along with the likes of Glen Hansard, Mark Dignam and future The Wilde Oscars vocalist Miriam Ingram, Les was in with the right crowd at the right time — the golden music era of Ireland was in full swing.

Descended on his mother’s side from the blind harper O Carolan, the gift of melodic composition was bestowed in bounty thereafter. Les reminisces of a childhood immersed in music, the sort where a piano is the focal point of the house, your mother sings eleven-verse sean-nó s lullabies to soothe you to sleep and your most prized possession is a cassette deck. Whether by nature or by nurture, music was fated to be integral to Les in all its incarnations.

Don’t worry about sounding professional. Sound like you. There are over 1.5 billion websites out there, but your story is what’s going to separate this one from the rest. If you read the words back and don’t hear your own voice in your head, that’s a good sign you still have more work to do.

Be clear, be confident and don’t overthink it. The beauty of your story is that it’s going to continue to evolve and your site can evolve with it. Your goal should be to make it feel right for right now. Later will take care of itself. It always does.

In 2009, Les founded Arad studios, his self-built sonic sanctuary, where he built a reputation as a coveted music producer in the heart of his fair city. Yet, approaching a milestone birthday, Les’s writing tick grew antsy, propelling him to take a writing course on Inishbofin island — the seeds of a new record were sown. With the wave of longtime-friend Joe Chester’s production wand, Les found himself engulfed in his first solo album in almost ten years. With an Irish Catholic mother hailing from Kilmainhamwood and a Jewish father of Russian-Polish descent, Les was already sitting on a treasure trove of songwriting gems buried in his genealogy. 

20 Greenlea Road weaves folklore through a vast musical landscape, covering indie-folk standards such as ‘‘Barely Dividing’’ to the punchy soft-rock ‘‘Super 8’’ and even daring to contemporise trad during ‘‘Making for Whitewood’’ — genre infidelity never felt so sweet. In this album, Les uses music as the medium for untangling the webs of memory — sometimes not even his own. 20 Greenlea Road, Les’s grandparent’s address, and the ‘‘house that always felt most like a home for me,’’ Les recalls, is representative of his family ideals and serves as the emotional epicentre of the album. The chorus line ‘‘If I remember you, then you’re still alive’’ is the midrib of the artwork leaf motif — a summons to pulse the veins of memory to life.

The single release ‘‘Barely Dividing’’ has an uplifting outer-shell but, when peeled back, reveals a more complex core subject matter as Les reconciles leaving his own childhood with becoming a new parent. One door must close for another to open, so the saying goes. He ponders the intractable question of whether his parents, described as ‘‘the king and queen of reckless youth,’’ would have chosen each other had they known their fate. Les rattles the foundations of his identity in his search for meaning and understanding in this track.

‘‘Cold Cold Land’’ is a more reflective piece, building to an explosion of syncopated drumming, which feels plucked from a contemporary jazz set. Les’s memory of moving to Aberdeen, Scotland, at five years old, is bound to the harmonics emanating from the chimneys in his attic room — an eerie lullaby to quench the loneliness in an unfamiliar place.

The penultimate track on the album ‘‘Making for Whitewood’’ is written in classic folk metre, adding a contemporary bard to Les’s saturated repertoire as musician, producer, and social care worker. The musical aspect is almost ornamental as a story unfolds, which could rival the great Irish war ballads. A story physically preserved in the Irish Folklore Commission evermore but orally preserved in the generations of Keye’s past, present, and future. The story recalls the aftermath of The Battle of Raffin Hill 1798 where almost miraculously corn emerged from where the deceased soldiers lay. It was discovered that sheaths of wheat were kept in the pockets of the fallen soldiers to sustain themselves during the war.

A record steeped in the lore of one man’s family history yet feels incessantly familiar, 20 Greenlea Road is when you pass through a steady stream of green lights and arrive somewhere wholly unexpected. Les, the frontman, Les, the bassist, Les, the sound engineer and Les, the frontman again; there is a poetic circularity to his musical journey, and it’s safe to say it was worth the wait. 20 Greenlea Road is a contemporary indie-folk triumph and a celebration of storytelling in the oral tradition at its finest.

20 Greenlea Road is available on Bandcamp

https://leskeyemusic.bandcamp.com/album/20-greenlea-road