Night Train

New ideas, unexpected even for Keane themselves

Only keyboards and despair, sadness, war, losses, hopelessness? That is in the past. Electro guitars and keyboards, philosophy and looking for truth? That is in the past, too. If you thought that having tried this and that Keane would choose what the band members have a taste for to a greater extent you were wrong. It is not because they have not come to any agreement concerning which character their music should bear or which instruments should prevail in it. The reason is simple: during the tour supporting their super successful album Perfect Symmetry the musicians have got new ideas, most likely unexpected even for themselves. That is the way the E.P. Night Train was born, it contains 8 songs written in different corners of the earth under the influence of their local atmosphere. If before that Tom Chaplin, Tim Rice Oxley and Richard Hughes worked on tracks rather scrupulously making them perfect then the collection Night Train is pure experimentation conquering with its positive mood and bold solutions.

Instruments, vocals and something else on Night Train

Listen and enjoy, replay and enjoy even more – these will be your actions when Night Train is in your hands. First of all, young men keep looking for unusual combinations of instruments and audio effects: synths with acoustic guitar, xylophone with electro guitar, handclaps with piano and so on and so forth, add Chaplin’s vocals and…rapping! That’s right, the experimental ground has included not only our heroes’ trio but also some other artists with whom Keane has been thinking to record a couple of compositions for some time. So, on tracks Stop For A Minute and Looking Back rapper K'Naan joins the guys bringing new colors into the music. The first is a contagious, almost danceable number with handclapping, vocals impossible not to sing along with and the most optimistic memorable chorus. The second one is a mid-tempo mix of disco, bossa nova and hip-hop with the tune reminding of the famous Rocky movie. Your Love is a hello from the 1980s with the vocal part from Tim Rice Oxley, and Clear Skies conquers with soulful vocals, gentle xylophone ringing and a very contagious percussion. One should pay a special attention to the track Ishin Denshin (You've Got To Help Yourself), performed with a Japanese singer Tigarah: fantastic effects, choir singing and Tigarah’s soft voice are united into a wonderful calling to do something. The record closes with a splendid ballad My Shadow with the band’s trademark keyboards and deeply thought lyrics.

Night Train is released right in time

It is no secret that if talented people get together, truly burn inside with the things they do and are full of ideas, the results are always brilliant, especially when their goals are creative. Of course Keane has already proved with its previous works that it does aim at giving the audience at least food for thought, at most – good music. Yet now it is a band with a faultless reputation that can allow itself a sort of mischievousness. Having fun with the instruments, vocalists and stylistics could be quite risky at the beginning so Night Train is released right in time. The trio has started their path with rather dark mood, then they were happy with the first success and their music only reflects that happiness all the way on. Yet melancholy is impossible to be disguised – there some sad notes on every record including Night Train. At those moments Tom Chaplin and his friends address the listeners with different callings to do something, first change the visual angle, the attitude to life and then life itself. On the whole, Keane’s music is good both in form and content, therefore each of its new releases is definitely a great occasion.