Keely's songwriting often shows the influence of progressive rock, as the aforementioned "Tao of the Dead" illustrates. Other songs often have political or social meaning characteristic of punk music; for example, the song "Up to Infinity" from "Lost Songs" about the Syrian Civil War and the first track "Open Doors" is about human trafficking in Cambodia. Many tracks on the album "Worlds Apart" are about social unrest in the United States after the attacks of September 11th and consumer culture, and Caryn Ganz of "Spin" described the writing on "So Divided" as "lyrically bleak."