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May 24, 2023 By Caleb Campbell

Pittsburgh-based singer/songwriter Zack Keim made his solo debut in 2017 with his full-length record, First Step, which introduced him via a contemplative folk sound, pulling from artists like Bob Dylan and Nick Drake. After a lengthy hiatus, Keim returned last year with “Canyon,” leaning in a jangly and lush new direction. That track was the first of a series of new releases, including “Alice,” which we premiered later that year.

Keim describes his recent singles as a way of reintroducing himself as an artist. “I grew up listening to lots of indie rock and 1,2,3, but then I shifted into the hardcore garage direction,” Keim says. “Now, I’m finding my voice as an artist.” He showed off his latest step forward earlier this year with a soaring new track, “Better Days,” co-written with indie singer/songwriter Matt Costa and Chad Moticue of Animal Scream. Today, he’s back with another new track, “Maggie,” premiering with Under the Radar.

“Maggie” is another track Keim co-wrote with Costa and Monticue, and is described as his previous effort’s more melancholy twin. In contrast to the anthemic and sun-lit tone of “Better Days,” “Maggie” is more insular, steeped in daydream psychedelia, fractured piano chords, and longing melodies. Yet, despite the bittersweet overtone, the track also has a propulsive rhythmic undercurrent and beatific melodic presence, lending it a certain nostalgic joy. Meanwhile, the lyrics describe a real-life romance, spurred on when Keim met a woman who played a Kinks track on the jukebox.

As he describes, “I wrote ‘Maggie’ after a brief fling I had with a girl here in Pittsburgh. We met in a dive bar at the jukebox when she put a Kinks track on — we hit it off and really had no idea where it was going — but I went home after that night and immediately started writing. My whole goal was to capture that moment of excitement and newness you feel at the beginning of a relationship, hence that Buddy Holly / floor tom stomping thing throughout the song, and that McCartney bass line.”

Check out the song below, along with the accompanying video, directed by Anthony Peduzzi. You can also read our Q&A with Keim below.

You described how “Maggie” came about rather spontaneously, as an effort to capture a specific feeling. That said, how did you go about translating that aforementioned feeling into this song, and what ideas did you have in mind while writing it?

Maggie is a real person. I was in the transition of leaving DC when we met. I would come back to Pittsburgh about once a month to move my belongings back. One night, I met her at this dive bar Gooskis. She took me by surprise and we had a short lived fling.

At the time, I was listening to a lot of Andy Shauf and Buddy Holly demos. It definitely had a big influence on the song.

How do “Maggie” and your previous single “Better Days” introduce this new era of solo music? Is there a throughline connecting them?

Both songs feel very natural to me and that’s really important to me as an artist.

How did your collaboration with Matt Costa come about, and how would you say that partnership influenced the final outcome?

Matt reached out to me when I released my single “Canyon”. We connected over Instagram and invited me out to his house in Laguna Beach to work on music.

I’ve been a fan of Matt’s work for a long time so it was an honor to work on a co-write together.