![]() Tom Chaplin’s voice is deeper and stronger but I rather liked his fragile falsetto, and it’s rarely used here (although ‘Sea Fog’ is a beautiful example of it in full action). Whilst Keane have largely (and thankfully) stuck to what they’re good at, there have been subtle changes, and not necessarily for the better. ![]() ‘Disconnected’ has a particularly catchy melody and it should have been chosen as first single over the slightly bland ‘Silenced by the Night’. It’s obvious before you even put the record on – the cover features the same typography as the debut, and the band’s logo is positioned squarely in the centre of the cover, as it was on the debut and there is a focus on melodies rather than experimentation. Thankfully on ‘Strangeland’ they are harking back to that classic debut album. I remember thinking that they weren’t playing to their strengths, they were playing to the critics and I couldn’t see why they would want that. Keane pushed the boat out successfully on their 2008 album ‘Perfect Symmetry’, and then they pushed it out too far on their 2010 mini album ‘Night Train’. These lyrics are uplifting, they are inclusive and they are ambiguous without being vague (take note Coldplay). Critics will (and have) argued that these lyrics are trite or obvious, but they have positive qualities these critics are overlooking. Elsewhere he croons ‘Your whole life lies ahead, it’s just around the bend’ then ‘though it seems so far away, the day will come’. Whereas their debut was more pessimistic, focusing on the fears, ‘Strangeland’ concentrates on hope.’ We’re gonna rise again’ he sings on first single ‘Silenced by the Night’. ![]() The name of the album is ‘Strangeland’ but a more appropriate one, had they not already used it, would be ‘Hopes and Fears’. When he’s not messing about with cheesy metaphors, Chaplin has a potent way of hitting the nail on the head. Everyone knows what he means when he says ‘I Feel like I just don’t know you anymore’ or ‘I want to love the way we did back then’. On paper some of these lines read like bad sixth form poetry, but when Tom Chaplin wraps his vocal chords around them they are more than effective. Secondly, Keane manage to make your heart yearn with frankly rather soppy and cliched lyrics. In particular, the Springstein-esque ‘Sovereign Light Cafe’ sounds dramatic and widescreen despite featuring only a handful of instruments. On ‘Strangeland’, despite minimal and unffussy arrangements, these songs sounds fully formed, anthemic and never undercooked. Somewhow, on all their albums, Keane manage to make Voice, drums and piano sound epic, and I’m not entirely sure how they do it. A couple of years ago they released a deluxe edition of ‘Hopes and Fears’ which included some old demos these demos featured the same instruments that were eventually used on the album but in comparison the songs sound sparse, flat and lacking. So what exactly is it that Keane do well? Firstly, praise needs to be given for how BIG their records sound. Listening to their albums in a row again recently, I was surprised at the variety contained in their older albums. There is a correlation between these two facts as popular bands often make popular targets – notice how the press raved about Kings of Leon, Coldplay, Kaiser Chiefs, Snow Patrol, The Killers etc (the list could go on) until they started bothering the charts? But as Keane pointed out last week, they have never been popular in a trendy trendy way and, despite what you might hear, they’ve never stuck to one particular style or sound. Unfortunately what they do is loathed by the influential music press despite being loved by the public. But the Fact is Keane are extremely good at what they do when they are firing on all cylinders they are better than Coldplay or Snow Patrol for starters. ![]() Their music is inoffensive, they’re from a middle class background and they don’t have a guitarist. They claim that this is going to be their best album "by a long, long way".Mums like Keane so critics don’t. I really hope this is going to be amazing and that things finally pick up for them! Let's just hope this is more 'Hopes and Fears' than 'Night Train', but I have a good feeling about it. Oh my God! That was about bloody time, I am beyond excited for this. In the past four years the East Sussex boys took a break from releasing a conventional studio album and released an extended EP called 'Night Train' back in 2010. The band will chasing their fourth consecutive UK number one following 'Hopes and Fears' in 2004, 'Under the Iron Sea' in 2006 and 'Perfect Symmetry' in 2008. Keane will return on May 7th with a brand new studio album called Strangeland.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |