So, I gave the new Keane album, Under The Iron Sea, a listen last night. It’s stirring stuff, opening with a minute and five (seriously) of instrumental before Tom Chaplin kicks in with vocals, written by the pianist Tim Rice-Oxley, that really, after some examination, point to the huge burden of egotism that Chaplin carried after the success of their debut opus, Hopes and Fears. Strangely, the most intense part of the album that points to this is the track that doesn’t have any lyrics at all - the instrumental ‘The Iron Sea’. But the album as a whole is a fantastically pieced together collection. The opening ‘Atlantic’, although opening in a torrent of discord, resolves into a euphonic major ditty with a steady beat. “The day’s beginning”, it ends, and damn right it’s just the start.
Lead single, ‘Is It Any Wonder?’, as those of you who’ve heard it, is - aside from being an abominably catchy song - a fundamental change in Keane’s sound. Chaplin has offered a soundbite mentioning a Hendrix influence on the band (yes, that’s Jimi Hendrix, pretty much Jesus On Guitar, being the chief influence for a band who don’t. have. a. guitar) and it definitely sticks out in the piano lead that sounds as Hendrix-like as any number of effects boxes could possibly make it. “Is it any wonder that I’m tired? Is it any wonder that I feel uptight? Is it any wonder I don’t know what’s right?” Maybe Rice-Oxley was giving him a chance, but as a lead single it’s a good start. Chaplin sounds undeniably perky despite the subject matter, the real voice of youth still shining.
‘Nothing In My Way’ begins with a repeated chord that could have been - literally, the instrumentation is identical, only a semitone lower - have been nicked from ‘Somewhere Only We Know’, but the chorus ditties itself into consciousness and if you listen hard enough, you’ll be whistling it long after. Or rather, you would be, if your brain wasn’t swiped by some of the lines to follow. ‘Leaving So Soon?’, it must be said though, isn’t one of them. “Don’t look down on me now”… Still, there could be a nice movie placement for the track. They’ve already taken the headstart by knocking the tuning up by about half a semitone. The strings on ‘A Bad Dream’ that follows are immaculately placed, and Keane nudge themselves from pop ballad to show-stopping masterpiece.
‘Hamburg Song’ is a track that stands out from the rest for a couple of reasons. The first is that, with a nod to Fix You-esque tenderness, the song is largely based on a harmonium. The chorus sounds a little bit like ‘This Is The Last Time’ but the song itself is far more tender than anything Hopes and Fears had to offer (’She Has No Time’ springs to mind as the most gentle of its songs) - but frustrates desperately in the realisation that with a string arrangement like the one on the previous ‘A Bad Dream’, the song could have been an orchestral wondershow, but alas. If on a third album it would be forgiveable. As it’s on a second, there can be hope that they’ll meditate on the thought. It might appear as a single and grow á la ‘Bedshaped’. ‘Put It Behind You’ is solid but forgettable. Likely to be a grower; it’s got that weird chromatic thing that Keane seem to do with the bass octaves all the time (how do you write a riff like that? Answers on a postcard please).
TSS’s standout track of the album, however, is the excellent ‘Crystal Ball’. It’s by far the most catchy chorus on the album at large (yes, more so than ‘Is It Any Wonder?’. You have been warned): “Oh, crystal ball, crystal ball save us all, tell me life is beautiful” - mightn’t sound fantastic in pixelated form but as soon as you hear it, you’re hitting the rewind button. I’ll be gobsmacked if it’s not the next single, with it’s Coldplay-honed (remember that once upon a time Rice-Oxley was offered a job as the keyboardist in The Coldplay as they then were, in UCL) BAH-ba-ba-BAH-ba-ba-BAH-ba - you might be lost - think ‘Clocks’ - and really defies any superlatives you can put on it. If Gnarls Barkley hadn’t already laid permanent siege to Single Of The Year, this would be right up there.
‘Try Again’ begins the trio that epilogues the album and is perhaps a tad overbearing in trying to slow the tone of the album towards its soothing finish - frankly, if you become aware of it, it’s too much - but that shouldn’t detract from what otherwise would be a solid song. ‘Broken Toy’ is a quirky 3-4 jive that seems out of place before the atmospheric final chapter of ‘The Frog Prince’, which does a fine job of wrapping up the fifty minute package. It’s a real Keane ending too - and the placement as a bookend is a strange one given how rousing the finish. It’s a little like ‘Can’t Stop Now’ and when it gets towards its finale you realise that, when regarding both songs, nobody does an F chord like Keane do. Even the lyrics about a prince who “cracks and falls down” can’t detract from it.
The end result is one that shows maturity and evolution from Hopes and Fears - yes, they’ve still steered well clear of anything that’s fully in minor tonality (other than the interlude of The Iron Sea - perhaps Chaplin can’t carry off the pathos? Let’s not bog down in it) but yes, they carry off being happy with fantastic applomb and it’s the best almost-entirely-happy album since Orson’s Bright Idea (older than this blog, but an excellent collection itself) and possibly more so than anything else coming this summer from a big name, with Muse, a Thom Yorke solo project and - possibly? hopefully? - a full-band album with Radiohead to show up (note the casual dismissal of any chance that Chinese Democracy will make it out this year, although I’ll keep some sauce for near my hat, ready for hasty eating). Conclusion: Under The Iron Sea, not where this album should be left.
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In other news: I’m gutted for Tunisia who weren’t worth a two-goal loss to Spain (good as they were), delighted for Andriy Shevchenko who has finally gotten a World Cup finals goal - wouldn’t it have been tragic if they’d departed without their star man getting one? - and pissed off about how I waited the best part for an hour for a number 11 bus back home yesterday evening, then walked from the Burlington and then had three successive 11’s pass me - in a row - when I’d nearly gotten as far as the front door on G-Town Road. Honestly, Dublin Buses - You wait so long for one, and then you storm off and walk the couple of miles before all three show up at once.
