Although they had some exposure in movies and series, I don’t know how famous the 88 are now, I have known them since 2003, and was immediately seduced by the catchy tunes and pleasant harmonies of their album ‘Kind of Light’. You could say they follow the common trend by emulating the 60’s and 70’s, but they are really skilled songwriters, and they are definitively not faking it. Their melodies will float for a long time in your head even after the first listening.
Always dressed up in assorted suits, the four-piece band, which got its name from the title of a French Kicks song or because there are 88 keys on a piano, consists of Keith Slettedahl on vocals and guitar, Adam Merrin on piano, Anthony Zimmitti on drums, and Todd O’Keefe on bass and has already released 4 albums.
Their music is not shy of keyboard use and Keith Slettedahl’s vocals are always flawlessly and effortlessly gliding over the harmonies.
The remarkable thing about their music is that it manages to make a sort of bridge between British rock influences and California pop sound, and to cleverly mix something familiarly ‘old’, coming from various horizons, with something new.
Summery song like ‘How good can it be’ could fool you because of its happy lighthearted tune if you would not pay attention to the lyrics ‘And I’ve been holding out for love ever since I had a heart’, and this could be true for many songs.
I guarantee love at the first hearing for ‘All the same’, ‘Sunday Afternoon’ of their first album ‘Kind of light’ or ‘All’ cause of you’, ‘Everybody loves me’ of their second album ‘Over and over’, some of the songs which have certainly led critics to compare them numerously to the Kinks.
Live, they can be spectacular, unleashing a contagious energy and executing their songs to the perfection.
Recently, they have toured with Ray Davies and have even played with him at the Royal Albert Hall last May, an absolutely perfect fit! They have influences and they don’t hide them, why should they?