Review: Keane - Perfect Symmetry

By David Simister on Oct 22, 08 08:53 AM

Keane
Perfect Symmetry
Genre: Indie
Highlight: You Haven't Told Me Anything

KEANE are one of those marmite bands; you either love or absolutely loathe these three pop soldiers from Battle, in Sussex. Yet what can't be denied is that - given the storming success their first two albums enjoyed - Perfect Symmetry has an awful lot to live up to.

The band's third work couldn't have come out at a trickier time, with indie-pop contemporaries Coldplay and Travis both having put out stunning comeback albums earlier this year. Keane have reached a crossroads, where they could have happily plied further with the electro feel of Under The Iron Sea or returned to their original, piano-heavy sound. Amazingly, they've ditched both.

Band front man Tom Chaplin must be an Ashes to Ashes fan, because their most recent release really has gone back to the early 1980s. Even the most liberal listeners won't fail to spot bits of Bowie all over Better Than This, or hear hints of synthpop stalwarts like Talk Talk and Tears for Fears in this album's opening tracks.

In fact, you have to wait for the title track before reaching anything recognisably Keane, so anyone hoping for a follow-up to the haunting debut album Hopes and Fears is bound to be disappointed.

Some of the tracks even try - and fail - to incorporate dance music into the mix, but Keane have got to be commended for expanding on their sound far more than Coldplay have with theirs. Predictably, the star of the show is Chaplin's shrill vocals, which are always note-perfect and give an added dimension to some of the admittedly lame lyrics.

Perfect Symmetry is not going to move you in the same way Hopes and Fears did but for fans looking for a bold expansion on the existing Keane sound it's well worth a look.