PRESS RELEASE:

Keo Nozari releases Fingerprints, an album experience of Lust, Love, and Heartbreak on July 22, 2022.

Featuring collaborations with Peppermint of RuPaul’s Drag Race and musicians from the musical Hamilton.

NYC-based, queer recording artist Keo Nozari has achieved both critical acclaim and commercial success: Billboard Top 20 charting dance single (“Rewind”); Apple/iTunes Top 100 single in the UK (“Wildside”); international hit signed to Armin Van Buuren (“Close Enough”); voted “Ultimate Sexist Video” on MTV’s LOGO network (“Question of Monogamy”); stellar reviews in Billboard Magazine, Billboard.com, TimeOut New York and much, much more. He is also a longtime DJ who was a resident DJ in Fire Island Pines (the birthplace of the ‘remix’) for over a decade.

Here is his fourth studio album FINGERPRINTS in his own words:

“A fingerprint… is something left behind. People touch and affect us all the time, often not ever knowing their impact on our lives.

“A fingerprint… is what’s present now, remaining from the past. And that could be an inspiring (outstanding) musical impression: from a bygone genre; a previous era; or a legendary performer.

“A fingerprint is also something unique to you.

“This album Fingerprints explores the impressions people have left on me — humanly, musically, both bad and good. (How someone can touch our heart, and also break it.) During quarantine time in New York City — especially with no physical touching and not seeing people in person — it had me reflecting on those who had touched me. Sexually, intellectually, spiritually, emotionally, musically. I let that inspire me. And hopefully through listening to this album — something I created unique to me — I’ll, in turn, leave something behind that will touch and inspire. My fingerprint on you. :)

“Sharing on this album are two guest performers: trans legends, queer stars, and longtime friends. Peppermint was a cast member on RuPaul’s Drag Race and star of Broadway’s Head Over Heels. She serves-it up on our sassy, self-empowerment anthem “Treat Yourself”. Infused with 90s R&B and 80s synth pop, the duet we hope will uplift everyone, especially our queer community. And internationally acclaimed pop performer Mila Jam joins me on the disco dripping “Summer Sex Magic.” Meanwhile, Broadway Hamilton musicians Robin Macatangay and Richard Hammond lend guitar and bass, respectively, throughout much of the album. And mastering the album is multi-Grammy Award winner Randy Merrill, who’s mastered albums for an unparalleled roster of pop stars including Harry Styles, Lady Gaga and Ariana Grande.

“Fingerprints tells a real-life love story, from a lusty first encounter on a (disco-era) dance floor (“Pants”), through the love, heartbreak and the recovery. Coming out the other side stronger and knowing yourself a whole lot better. The album also tells a musical love story, showing my love of 70s disco & funk, 80s synth pop, and 90s R&B while still fully present in music 2022. The album’s emotional centerpiece of unrequited love — “On My Lips, On My Mind” — blends a throwback era, bluesy torch-song while maintaining a thoroughly modern 2022 production. I find it as heartbreaking as I do beautiful, the song builds from a muted, ambient/space-y stage (verses) to a bridge exploding with emotion of a love that will never be.

“In fact “On My Lips, On My Mind'“ along with “Pants” and “Blindfolded & Barefoot” were three songs from my past, written over a decade ago. I rediscovered them during quarantine like lost friends, songs I loved so much. So it was so fitting to reconnect with these songs left on the shelf. They had been waiting for me to finally have the skills to give them life, bring them to their full fruition, for just the right moment for their day in the sun.

This album for me is a dream come true. Writing, producing and mixing all 11 tracks meant seeing a full creative vision come to be. My very own fingerprint to remain with you. :) “

All songs written, produced & mixed by Keo Nozari.

Mastered by Randy Merrill at Sterling Sound.

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PRESS ASSETS: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/rfr7saz7yck9cpd/AAC92lvBZS2qXB757Gxnvs3Qa?dl=0

EPK on Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/729882710

LINKS TO MUSIC:

All streaming link:

https://lnk.to/b2G9i8p6

Spotify link:

https://open.spotify.com/album/3kLMEUMrSlkVFdGfdkGbay?si=WziPeKDVQO6Pq1572Y8k9w

iTunes/ Apple link:

https://itunes.apple.com/album/id/1634514353

Artist info:

Artist Website: thekeo.com

Artist Insta: Instagram.com/keonozari

Artist Wiki: wikipedia.org/wiki/Keo_Nozari

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Keo breaks down each track on FINGERPRINTS::

Pants:

“‘Pants’ kicks off the album with a lusty invocation on the dance floor, an invitation to bring that hot someone home to experience a whole lot more. It’s fun, campy, modern disco-pop. And seemed like the perfect place to start the album story (which played a similar arc of lust, love and heartbreak as one of my real life relationships). This is 1 of 3 tracks that I rediscovered during quarantine - that I’d written around the time of my first album - and reworked for Fingerprints. At the time I wrote them I didn’t have the skillset to fully bring them to life production-wise. I’m so glad I waited (and that they waited for me!), and I was able to fully realize them!”

Summer Sex Magic:

“A disco-infused duet with pop vocalist Mila Jam. I wrote this about the playfulness and joy of having sex, which I think is a nice contrast to many commercial songs about sex in recent years that tend to be very raunchy and a little dark. Mila was the perfect co-star for this song and it was exciting to see it come to life in our music video with so many queer disco references.”

[Video on YouTube here: https://youtu.be/9EEQLjPXG9c ]

Tip of My Tongue:

“For me this perfectly encapsulates that exciting moment where you know you’re in-love with someone — though you’re not 100% sure if they’re on the same page. You’re afraid to open-up and be vulnerable — and you keep coming close to saying how you feel. Finally that first blush of love is just so intoxicating you just need to say it.”

Coming Closer to Me:

“This tells the story of growing closer to someone, but personally and sexually — eventually letting down your guard and being vulnerable.  The three choruses have different lyrics as the relationship grows, tied together with the refrain ‘coming closer to me’. You're becoming both closer to the person and closer to yourself. My favorite line in the song is ‘Find myself, lose myself; inside of you, inside myself’ —which works both physically and metaphorically, a transcendent experience of sex, love and being connected.”

Fingerprints:

“A humorous take on being ghosted by a man who’s stolen my heart. A little bit 90s, a little bit jazz, a whole lot of fun.”

Holding Position:

“During quarantine, it felt like we were all in a holding position. And I was also feeling this way about some relationships in my life - both friendships and romances. This describes a point where you no longer feel like someone’s priority, when you were once their most cherished person, now you’re stuck in a place where the relationship isn’t progressing and is retreating back. I love how musically the track takes some unexpected twists, echoing the relationship you thought would be one way, but turns into another.”

Lo-Fi Love:

“Relationships can become worn out and you can feel misled, and this song both sonically and lyrically describes the disappointment with someone not being the full quality relationship you were hoping for. The bridge is the one moment the song turns to some High Fidelity from its otherwise muted Lo-Fi, supporting the lyrics: a desire for a high quality relationship that stands the test of time.”

On My Lips, On My Mind:

“This is a throwback torch song in the truest sense — carrying a torch for someone who will never love you back. Yet I also highly modernized it with the production. It describes a moment in my life of incredible pain, it’s heartbreaking. Though not without beauty amidst the pain. I love how it grows from quiet beginnings, to an enormous place in the bridge. This is also the 2nd of the 3 songs I rediscovered from my past.”

Treat Yourself:

“Recording with Peppermint was a full circle moment, as we had previously worked together in years past as she hosted and I DJ’d several longtime events in NYC queer spaces. We had started our recording careers around the same time — and even starred in each other’s music videos — but hadn’t yet recorded together! So I wrote this inspirational song, meant for everyone and especially for our queer community in a time of need. It’s a reminder that ‘you are already enough’. No matter how the world might treat you, the most important thing is how you treat yourself. It’s the ultimate glow up!”

Blindfolded & Barefoot:

“This is about creating your own path to joy and being relentless and determined to persevere. This is the 3rd of the songs I rediscovered from years ago. It was originally written and recorded as a rock-pop song. So I loved taking it in a whole new direction of house-lounge with a light disco flair.”

Falling Into Place:

“I wrote this song in my lowest point of depression & despair in 2020 as a way to lift myself up. Music has always been my greatest therapy, and this song was a joy to create. It was also a means to lift my listeners up, as we all begin again. It also makes for the perfect ending for the album — after the end of relationship and learning more about yourself, it’s time to: “Pick up the pieces. Reset!”