Since their inception, Kentucky post-hardcore band Too Close To Touch have been known and celebrated for writing incredibly emotional songs that resonate deeply with fans. From the explosive title track of their 2015 debut album, Nerve Endings to the vulnerable song “Eiley” about the loss of frontman Keaton Pierce’s little sister, throughout their career, the band has never shied away from difficult, often painful or incredibly personal subject matter. So it should come as no surprise that their final album and Keaton’s posthumous release, For Keeps is no different.
Arriving almost exactly two years after Keaton’s passing in 2022, For Keeps isn’t just any posthumous release. Rather, this collection of songs serves to offer fans, friends and family some comfort in the form of Too Close’s timeless songwriting and Keaton’s always poignant lyrics and soaring vocals. It’s a celebration of everything he and Too Close To Touch have accomplished and everyone they’ve impacted.
The album also includes a few friends like Bad Omens’ Noah Sebastian, The Word Alive’s Telle Smith and Cane Hill’s Elijah Witt, with each of their respective songs playing like a personal love letter to Keaton and the band. All three songs find each artist injecting a little bit of themselves into Too Close’s sound. “Novocaine”, which features guest vocals and production from Noah Sebastian, sets the tone for the songs to follow, spearheaded by Keaton’s stunning vocals and backed up by Noah’s emotional lyrics, which promise, in a stunning testament to their friendship, “You can sing while you’re away / Tell me the words you want to say / Give them to me and I’ll relay.” Meanwhile, “Hopeless” marks the perfect, long-awaited reunion between Keaton and Telle, and “Designer Decay” is easily one of the band’s heaviest songs yet with the help of Cane Hill.
Although bittersweet, all eight songs on For Keeps just go to demonstrate both the band and Keaton’s versatility. Songs like the vocally stunning “Disappear” sit effortlessly next to the exciting “Hurt Reynolds”, which is driven by explosive drum and bass, showcasing a side of Keaton that not everyone always got to hear. “Heavy Hearts” feels like a soulful City and Colour-inspired ballad and “Control” and “They Don’t Even Know” are simply classic Too Close To Touch.
Since their start, Keaton’s iconic, emotive and raw vocals have always been the heart of Too Close To Touch. His courage to tackle difficult subject matter while singing his heart out unsurprisingly won fans over from the beginning while also encouraging them to open up as well, and if there’s anything that we should take away from Too Close To Touch and Keaton’s legacy, it’s his bravery, vulnerability and openness, even with strangers. As Keaton himself once told me when we sat down for a very casual, yet emotional interview outside of Denver’s Summit Music Hall back in 2016, “I feel like people hearing that different, totally vulnerable side that they had no idea about made them feel more comfortable about opening up about things… That’s why we write songs like that.”
Back then, Keaton had been talking about the band’s 2016 album, Haven’t Been Myself and the impact that his vulnerability and honesty on “Eiley” had on listeners, but the same can be said for all of Too Close To Touch’s music, even now. It’s unsurprising and almost poetic that, two years after his passing and eight years after we had that conversation, Keaton’s words still ring true and his lyrics might even offer some comfort to those who are missing him now. At the end of the day, Too Close To Touch and Keaton Pierce will live on long after the last notes of For Keeps ring out.
Keaton forever.