After Yeasayer broke up in 2019, co-lead vocalist Anand Wilder released a solo album, and now the band’s other co-leader, Chris Keating, is pursuing a solo career of his own. He has an EP called PolyDukes due out on June 21 with two original songs and a cover of Paula Abdul’s 1988 hit “Straight Up,” and both original songs are out now: “Way I Know How” and “Devoted.”
The EP was made in collaboration with French producer/songwriter Elias Abid, and Chris said to Stereogum that he “was super interested in the idea of a bilingual, cross-generational collaboration.”
“They’re just things that I wanted to make,” he added about the new songs. “I’ve been super interested in older film scores for a long time — Piero Piccioni, Francis Lai, Nora Orlandi. Italian B-movies and crime thrillers. I also like electronic music. I don’t know. How do you start diving into releasing things on your own? What’s the point? I don’t even know. I basically just made things that I felt like were aesthetically in line with stuff I liked. That’s kind of the plan — trying to find an interesting palette that speaks to me.”
While Anand’s album embraced the folky, psychedelic side of Yeasayer, Chris’ new songs fall closer to the band’s pop/R&B side, both in very different ways, and it’s nice to have his instantly recognizable voice back. Listen below.