Little Village

2005 May Issue of Little Village

Keith Lynch is Unknown Component, an enigmatic Iowan-with-guitar who releases CD’s and Mp3’s of his own mysterious material by way of the Internet. While earnest and acoustic, he’s a rocker and not a folkie. His songs have a sonic edge. Lynch purposely distorts his voice to intensify the emotional charge and lyrical content. He uses his guitar more as a percussion or rhythm instrument than he does to play a melody.

Unknown Component’s latest release reveals a mixed bag of musical influences ranging from The Beatles to Radiohead. Lynch, however is certainly without conventional commercial expectations. He has more ambitious, artistic aims and takes many risks. Not surprisingly, many of his songs overtly concern the dangers of compromising oneself (for love, work, whatever). “Why/do I comply/ to these times/ I can’t buy/ all these lies/ I still try”. he sings on the opener “Run Around”.
“Who’s to say/anything anyway/ You play the game/ and lose yourself this way/ I don’t think that I will stay/around and be that way.” he begins another song, Two Fourteen”. As these lyrics suggest, Lynch’s songs are often sad. He’s one of society’s discontents who knows he can’t fit in, yet doesn’t want to be alone.

The instrumentation here is also stark, often working in counterpoint to the vocals. He’ll sing in one tempo and play the guitar in another. The two forces clash to create a discordant effect and make Lynch seem even more alone. Possibly Lynch is an Unknown Component because in his musical heart, he doesn’t want to blend in with the rest. He’d rather be himself, even if that means being alone.

Comments are closed.