Longboat continues to carve out its own space with The Merry Blacksmith’s Song Bucket, the latest album from Longboat, released on October 31, 2025. The album arrived on Halloween, which felt deliberately timed, leaning into tension, absurdity, and unease.
At the center of Longboat is Igor Keller, the project’s sole architect. While Longboat often appears as a band, it is best understood as a dynamic project built around Keller’s singular vision, supported by a rotating cast of live musicians. That flexibility has allowed Longboat to shift shape over the years without losing its identity.
The Merry Blacksmith’s Song Bucket features 12 tracks, including “Fashionism,” “Time of Tedium,” and its opening statement, “Monster Zero.” The lead track draws inspiration from classic Godzilla films, particularly Godzilla vs. Monster Zero, where alien forces manipulate destruction from a distance. Keller takes that idea and reframes it, stripping away the hero narrative and focusing instead on instability, confusion, and the absence of easy resolution.
Notably, the album avoids love songs entirely. Igor Keller has long resisted writing about romance, preferring to examine the world as it is — messy, flawed, and often absurd. As a result, the album moves through themes like modern alienation, social stagnation, and quiet anxiety, offering observations rather than emotional shortcuts.
Moreover, the release adds to an already steady creative output. Since 2011, Keller has released more than 30 albums under various names and concepts. His catalog includes explorations of technology, political unrest, wealth inequality, and five albums dedicated to what he calls “electronic blues.” Each project builds on the last without repeating it.
Before turning fully to pop experimentation, Keller was a jazz tenor saxophonist in Seattle’s vibrant music scene. That background still surfaces in Longboat’s work, not through solos or swing, but through structure, curiosity, and a willingness to improvise ideas rather than polish them away.
The Merry Blacksmith’s Song Bucket stands as another example of what makes Longboat distinct. It observes, questions, and occasionally unsettles — an album that treats modern life as something worth examining closely.
