BUZZBOX- Playful: Keith Morris goes to Candyapolis

The debut album from local songwriter Keith Morris, entitled Songs From Candyapolis, might be a concept record if it took itself a little more seriously. Instead, however, it's infused with a quirky childish playfulness that defies the tedium of somber artistic struggle.

      In part, Morris says, that's because he didn't have to work too hard to write the tunes– he could just sit back, wait around for a decade, and let them show themselves. He calls them "less written and more received.

      "I was out living in Boulder for four years, driving a shuttle van back and forth to the airport, and somewhere during that trip I'd just start hearing the song coming through," he says. "It's coming through from some spot that I suppose is deeply unconscious territory, whatever the implications of that. It feels like you're channeling songs from some sort of cosmic radio."

      "Cosmic" may be the wrong term, since it all seems very human. But then, with sufficient neuroses, the human brain can be just as mystifying as anything found out past the great blue yonder. "I think I'm writing from a part of me that's a little bit unhinged," says Morris, "and gladly so. It's almost like celebrating your inner freak."

      The quirky local songwriter's CD release show happens Wednesday, December 12, at Gravity Lounge. $10, 8pm.

#