Keane

It’s been 4 years since a fan of Keane last experienced a new album, setting aside the rather lackluster “Night Train” EP. This album sees the band attempt to get back to their roots and is almost a complete throw back to that piano driven sound and sweeping choruses that made them so huge way back in 2004 whilst still managing to incorporate the sounds that they picked up in successor albums “Under The Iron Sea” and “Perfect Symmetry”.

“Strangeland” opens up with the gentle “You Are So Young” which does not ignore the electronic sounds of the previous record and begins with a very 80’s feeling to it. Once the piano enters you can hear elements for all three of Keane’s previous records which have all been sonically different from each other. Yet it works and both lyrically and musically the song creates a very relaxed and beautiful sound, a very different vibe from their usual high energy openers.

Next are the two singles released so far, “Silenced by the Night” and “Disconnected”. Both these tracks are solid, classic “Keane” and this is when the tempo and energy kicks into gear. Although they fail to reach as high a level as hits such as “Somewhere Only We Know” or “Everybody’s Changing” they certainly achieve the same upbeat piano driven sound the hardcore fans will love. Lyrically the songs are very well written, and it is easy to say that it is the lyrical department where this album truly exceeds. It should also be noted that the music video for “Disconnected” is not to be missed.

The album takes a more mellow turn with the beautiful “Watch how You Go”. This track is absolutely beautiful with Tom Chaplain’s vocals really showing their strength here soaring over the beautiful ballad, the clear highlight of the song. Following this “Sovereign Light Café” takes the energy of the album back up to an up tempo beat. This structure really gives the album an emotional boost, with this song not being particularly different from the two singles it is perhaps one of the strongest lyrical attempts on this record with a fantastic back beat to it. This is then followed by another fast paced number “On the Road”; although it is very similar to the previous song in beat and musical style the chorus in this track is much catchier and it will make this track a sure thing as a massive live hit with fans and a likely future single.

The album begins to wane on wards from here, the following songs are not bad they are just forgettable and do not capture the attention quite the same as other songs on the album. “The Starting Line”, although not a bad song, you can’t help but feel it is just a rehash of previous track on the album “Watch How You Go”. “Black Rain” starts similarly to opener “You Are So Young” and it is a very beautiful song, it could easily have been taken from one of A-Has “Analogue” album, and although it is not a bad song it can be very long drawn out and its replay ability is likely to be much lower than other songs on the Album.

The last part of the album attempts to pick things up again but fails to reach the quality of the fist half of the record. “Neon River” comes back to the solid sound musically the album begins with but it breaks no ground that the album has not already covered and you feel you have heard this before. Again it is the lyrics that make this song stand out. “Day Will Come” is much better; it stands much more solidly as a song on its own and really shows Keane’s excellence as experienced songwriters, with a great sing a long chorus, which is what is really looked for in Keane.

The Album comes to an end with two tracks “In Your Own Time” and “Sea Fog”. “In your Own Time” is another filler track which does not particularly stand out, it just sounds like another rehash of the up tempo numbers already heard on the album. The Album ends on the piano led ballad “Sea Fog”, this might be the album highlight. This song is absolutely gorgeous, Tom Chaplin has never sounded better and the lyrics as ever on the album are solid. This is a simple song to mark the end of quite a simple album that ends how it started with a beautiful relaxed feeling.

As and album on a whole “Strangeland” is a good album. Its biggest flaw is the fact that too many of its songs sound the same as other songs on the same album, it’s not the fact the songs sound like “Classic Keane”, it’s the fact that its very difficult to pick out a lot of songs that will stand the test of time. None of the tracks will be hit singles, something that every Keane album has had before. This album does however show how strong the band have grown as songwriters and successfully brings together the sound of all three previous albums to create something very beautiful at points. Lyrically it is stronger than anything they have done before and this really is the saving grace of the album, an album that will not reach out to new fans quite the same as their previous effort “Perfect Symmetry” but will satisfy their huge hardcore fan base due to incorporation of their earlier sound. Not a classic, but a good record.