#anewtake

Keane's fourth studio album, Strangeland, is the result of eight years of musical fine-tuning and experimenting, and is the band's most subtly complex album to date, writes Ted Winder.

By the numbers at least, Keane are one the UK’s most-loved alternative bands. With three albums and one EP all charting at #1 on the UK Singles Chart along over 10 million albums sold worldwide, there is no denying Keane’s success. Yet here is a band that has never taken the nation, or indeed the world, by storm anywhere near as much as other British mellow rockers such as Coldplay and Snow Patrol. Instead, Keane have remained the quiet underdog on the British music scene for nearly a decade – but with the release of their new album, is that about to change?

Keane – Strangeland

Keane’s fourth studio album, Strangeland, is first and foremost a culmination of the experimentation that the band have slowly worked into their music since the release of debut album Hopes and Fears in 2004. Hopes and Fears was a masterpiece in its simplicity and emotional accessibility, and each album they have produced since then has built upon this. Under the Iron Sea in 2006 saw synths more delicately intertwined in the music and lyrically moved away from relationships towards friendship and life in general. 2008′s Perfect Symmetry went in a different direction entirely, bringing an expansive, synth-laden 80s pop vibe to Keane’s music. But Strangeland is by far the biggest milestone in this progression; it is the apex of eight years of fine-tuning and maturing, and it really shows.

For a start, the band now have a full-time bassist in Jesse Quin (having previously only joined them on tour), who joins principal songwriter and pianist Tim Rice-Oxley, singer Tom Chaplin and drummer Richard Hughes. Almost four years after their last full album, this is clearly a record the band have been keen to release: they have provided fans with constant teasers since its announcement in late February, and repeatedly claimed that it is to contain their best music yet. An eagerness is also displayed in the music itself – Chaplin’s vocals burst in from the very first second of the opening track.

While many fundamental aspects of Keane’s unique sound remain unchanged – the piano is still as driving as ever (despite the slight ‘rest’ it was given on Perfect Symmetry) and the middle eights are still the most catchy in the business – it would be unfair to label this album as a ‘return to their old sound’. Compared to debut Hopes and Fears and angsty follow-up Under the Iron Sea, Strangeland is an altogether more laid back output and feels a whole lot more positive for it. The instrumentation is more varied, but not overbearingly so. There is the odd bit of reverb here and there, and the addition of a few strings and panpipes on the atmospheric number Black Rain.  If anything, the piano is now more prominent than ever – retrospective ballad Watch How You Go flutters along sentimentally, complete with backing ooh’s and saccharine falsetto, while closer Sea Fog is beautiful in its simplicity, consisting of just a piano and Tom Chaplin’s voice, finishing with haunting reverb’d chants.

Keane: Tim Rice-Oxley (piano, synths), Richard Hughes (percussion), Tom Chaplin (vocals), Jesse Quin (bass).

Strangeland does draw some influences from its predecessor Perfect Symmetry. On the whole, the music is a whole lot more catchy – tracks such as Neon River and On The Road are particularly good examples of the upbeat side to this album. On the other hand, third track Disconnected and its accompanying horror-style video bring a slightly darker touch to the album, opening with the line, “Something’s crept in under our door,” sung by Chaplin in a rare and haunting baritone. Vocal effects, strings and synths also feature aplenty here, leading to a legitimate argument that the track is somewhat overproduced. All is redeemed, however, by one of the most beautiful (though fleeting) bridges I’ve ever heard in a Keane track, as all but a tinkling piano fades away to leave a brief semi-monologic interlude.

Lyrically, themes of friendship, dreams and the past are prevalent. “Lie still beside me, I’ll hold you now, I’ll hold you forever,” Chaplin sings in the upliftingly named You Are Young to the backing of upbeat drums and light piano. The Starting Line continues the themes of friendship and forgiveness explored in Put It Behind You from Keane’s second album: “I know you’ve been kicked around but tie up your thoughts and lay them down on me.”

Elements of nostalgia also creep in, most obviously in the slightly retro-sounding Sovereign Light Cafe, named after an actual cafe on the Bexhill seafront (the album cover is a shot of Bexhill). “Oh why did we ever go so far from home?” Chaplin laments, remembering, “We’d go down to the rides on East Parade, by the lights of the Palace Arcade and watch night coming down on the Sovereign Light Cafe.” Rice-Oxley’s lyrics have always been introspective, and this has become clearer than ever in this record. But you don’t have to be familiar with the south coast of England to understand what he’s on about. It is a testament to his songwriting abilities that he is able to write about such personal issues while still making them accessible to the widest possible audience.

And yet, while an excellent record in itself, Strangeland doesn’t feel like an album that will propel Keane to further recognition in any new corners of the world. The lyrics are typically relatable and the melodies as catchy as ever, and to an existing Keane fan it is obvious that this album is another successful product of the band’s continually evolving sound and attitude. But to an outsider it could easily come across as yet another softly-spoken English piano album. That should not be to Keane’s detriment, however; Strangeland is a collection of the band doing what they’re best at, and that is ultimately what makes Keane the brilliant band they are.

Strangeland is released in the UK on 7th May.