Igor Keller has been releasing music under the moniker Longboat for years, yet his latest album Word Gets Around feels like a turning point. The Seattle artist, formerly a jazz saxophonist, channels decades of experience into an album that’s both stripped down and conceptually dense—facing head-on the dissonance of modern life.
“I haven’t played saxophone in a while, but jazz is always there in the background in terms of form and structure,” Keller says, and it shows. The album’s minimalist arrangements are underpinned by subtle complexity—tight grooves and harmonies that hint at his jazz past, even if the surface is firmly rooted in pop and electronic textures.
But Word Gets Around is more than a musical exercise. It’s a commentary on cultural fatigue, the hollow noise of social media, and economic anxiety. There’s a biting sarcasm and straightforwardness in tracks like “The Doomscroll Waltz,” which tackles our obsession with endless bad news, and “Citizen Sweatpants,” a nod to the numbing comfort culture many have retreated into.
Keller’s skepticism extends beyond his lyrics. When asked about the rise of AI in songwriting, he voices a concern that’s both sharp and nuanced: human songwriting may soon be outpaced not by superior art but by the mediocrity of our own cultural output. “Kids will dance to AI-generated songs at proms… human songwriting will become a quaint object of the past.”
Yet despite the bleakness, Keller’s approach remains personal and grounded. He writes “for myself, my lovely wife, and my friends,” and that intimacy seeps through the record. “Yelltown,” inspired by his Belltown neighborhood, is a melancholic snapshot of a once-vibrant community now overwhelmed by chaos and noise.
One of the album’s unique qualities is its unbreakable identity. Keller jokes about being a “one-man band” that can never break up, but the image also captures the resilience behind Longboat’s sound—a singular vision navigating a fractured world.
Produced with engineer Ryan Leyva, Word Gets Around refuses to indulge in the gloss typical of mainstream pop, instead embracing an honest, unembellished aesthetic that reflects the album’s themes. Keller plans to record 11 albums this year—a feat that would daunt even the most seasoned musician—yet this record stands out as a deliberate, focused statement rather than a rushed outtake.