‘Better Days’ by Zack Keim

Exclusive video premiere of ‘Better Days’ by Pittsburgh-based indie-folk singer-songwriter Zack Keim.

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The track, which comes alongside a gorgeous accompanying music video, a wistful gem that wrests melodic bliss out of pangs of nostalgia. 26-year-old Keim co-wrote the tune with indie singer-songwriter Matt Costa and Chad Monticue (of Animal Scream) in California.

Keim wrote of the single: “The song ‘Better Days’ to me represents a reflection of hopeful youth but also the daily struggles of life. When we wrote the song together we reflected on what has happened over the last few years, and how we all had our ups and downs. Yet, we remain hopeful that better times and better days lay ahead.”

‘Better Days’ is a wistful gem that wrests melodic bliss out of pangs of nostalgia. With its sunkissed harmonies and tumbling rhythms, the tune is charged with exuberance and longing for the past. Keim co-wrote the tune with indie singer-songwriter Matt Costa in California; references to palm trees, prophets, and the parking lot heighten the song’s West Coast origins.

“I wrote it with Matt and my bass player Chad Monticue in Matt’s backyard. It came together really fast,” says Keim. “I came up with the three-chord Ramones-y riff and had the title direction of ‘Better Days.’ We wrote the song in like four hours. Then we went to Matt’s and recorded the whole song in one microphone in his bedroom.”

At 26, Keim—whose musical background bridges the gap between garage-rock scuzz and kaleidoscopic folk reveries—has done enough performing for several lifetimes. Born and raised in the factory town of Blawnox, Pennsylvania, just outside Pittsburgh, Keim first picked up a guitar at age 13, when he enjoyed pretending to play along with his dad’s Beatles Anthology CD. He formed his earliest bands in middle school, performing The Strokes and Arctic Monkeys covers to pubescent classmates. His life changed when he started sneaking out of the house to catch indie-rock concerts, particularly the acclaimed Pittsburgh group 1,2,3. “Seeing 1,2,3 definitely had an impact on me as a musician,” Keim says.

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