Writing back in 2022, we described single ‘Canyon‘ by Zack Keim as “a bright-eyed refusal to back down from his passions and will to create, and perhaps the first time he has really started to develop his artistic voice.” The song is now the opening track of Keim’s new album, Battery Lane, a full-length dedicated to this journey through personal strife and creative evolution which serves both as a testament to perseverance and the joy of music itself.
Described as a song about setbacks and new beginnings, the title track is the ideal introduction to the album. A song which charts a yearning for change and new experiences as well as the less-than linear path to self-fulfilment. “In August 2019, at 22, something deep inside was calling for change. I needed to get away—to find independence,” Keim explains. “The people around me in my hometown had good intentions, but I could feel their expectations weighing on me, as if they saw a path for me I wasn’t sure I wanted.”
So Zack Keim moved to the Washington DC area in the hope that new surroundings might help him discover the person he wanted to be. “Battery Lane had a mystic, almost timeless vibe,” he explains. “The building wasn’t fancy—built in the 1920s, with worn floors and old fixtures. But something about its age and character made it feel like a place where I could truly find myself.” Only just as he was finding his feet in the new area, 2020 arrived and with it inevitable disruption.
“That year forced many of us to look at our lives differently, and I was no exception,” Keim continues:
My relationship ended, my grandmother passed away, and I lost my record label. The weight of it all was overwhelming, but every loss and every mistake forced me to look deeper into myself. Within the walls of Battery Lane, I picked up my guitar again. Music had always been there, but now, it became the one thing that kept me grounded. It was in those quiet moments alone that I realized music wasn’t just a part of me—it was my one true love, the constant I needed.
Watch the video by director Anthony Peduzzi and director of photography Raffaele DiLullo below:
Battery Lane is out on the 7th February on Super Sport Records and Action Weekend and you can pre-order it now.