In its first week of release, Albany WA artist Simone Keane’s new single ‘Come Back’ reached Number 2 on the AIR Independent Singles and Independent Singles Labels Charts. It also debuted in the Regional AMRAP Charts at Number 5.
When Keane wrote ‘Come Back’ she’d been reading memoirs and biographies about people who had suffered through drug and alcohol addiction. Keane was unsure who she was addressing as she sat on her couch singing. It could have been a number of people who had drifted into addiction. As the song took shape, Keane realised she was singing in the voice of an inner child asking the adult version of themselves, “When you gonna come back to me?”
Come Back addresses substance addiction with compassion. Keane says, “Many who struggle with addiction are trying to escape painful memories, trauma, grief, anxiety. Many suffer in silence – some become homeless. I’ve lost friends who died way too young.”
Produced by Lee Buddle – Crank Studio (Green Day, Macklemore, Justin Bieber) Come Back is a spacious, floaty track with classical strings and a dreamy wild-west slide guitar.
“When Josh Dyson arrived at CRANK with his arsenal of instruments, I mentioned how much I loved the slide guitar on the Mazzy Star classic Fade into You. “He knew just the feel I was going for, recording some sorrowful, bendy slide tones straight up!” Dyson also plays some warm, subtle bass on the track.
Deeply moving classical stringed harmonies by Emily Gelineau (violin) and Kevin Gillam (cello) convey the light and shade of addiction, while Keane’s velvety vocals and acoustic finger picking carry a lilting melody.
Keane’s songwriting influences include Lana Del Ray, PJ Harvey, Hope Sandoval (Mazzy Star), Nick Cave, Leonard Cohen, Cowboy Junkies – “Anything dreamy and hauntingly affecting.”
Keane understands that re-visiting darker aspects of childhood can be painful, but believes the younger versions of ourselves would never want us to neglect or abandon them. “When others mistreat us, it doesn’t mean we deserve it. I sing about this in Come Back, ‘For you did not deserve their brutality – you did not deserve their inhumanity.’”
A deeply moving animation video conveys the vulnerability of a character drifting further into addiction. A child watches their adult self float away in a hot air balloon that was once a framed picture on their bedroom wall. Menacing shadows haunt the child, raising questions of trauma. The figure in the balloon basket sets off on a wondrous trip through kaleidoscopic movement and colour, but a storm sets in. Lightning illuminates frightening flashbacks. The child self below wonders if their adult self will ever come back.
Keane came up with the video’s concept, storyboard and hand drawings. It was animated by talented and intuitive designer Becky Majidi of 3rdstep. Keane is donating sales of Come Back to Street Smart Australia which runs campaigns for small, frontline organisations helping people facing homelessness.
She is a past dual WAM Award winner with a total of six nominations. She has released five albums and has previously charted in the Top 10 ARIA Charts, Top 10 AIR Charts and FAI Charts. She also received an Honourable Mention for US based Music for Humanity Song Contest 2024. Keane’s moving songs receive ongoing airplay around Australia, USA and Canada.
