Keane sounds the deep

In the wake of their success with their debut album, Hopes and Fears (2004), Indie rock band Keane has released a second, 11-track album bursting with soft ballads and piano rock: Under the Iron Sea.

As to be expected from a middle-of-the-road band, Keane's music is strongly melodic and makes good use of frontman Tom Chaplin's wide vocal range. While their hypnotic beats and soothing, wave-like tunes have previously led critics to label the British band from Sussex 'Coldplay imitators,' Keane has attempted to throw off this title by introducing a new element into their album.

The songs on Under the Iron Sea have an eerie feel to them, a pervasive numbness created by differing combinations of an electric piano with various synths, muffled by a wall of distortion. The band describes their new sound as a 'sinister fairytale-world-gone-wrong', an atmosphere most prominent in their hidden track, The Iron Sea.

Keane's choice of lyrics is not confined to any theme. Putting it Behind You is an upbeat expression of drummer Richard Hughes' emotions from his recent break-up with his girlfriend. A Bad Dream tells of a pilot fighting in a war and Keane uses the last track, The Frog Prince, to take a hit at singer James Blunt (You're Beautiful).

Unique at last, both in lyrics and sound, Keane's new album is worth that last spot on your summer wish list.