Strangeland

Keane – rockers with experience

The story of the band started back in 1995. Then the group was called Lotus Eaters, and only two years later the musicians decided to change the title into Keane, which is so well-known to listeners nowadays. Actually the quartet has never been famous for its haste – even if we consider the year 1997 as the starting point of their career, it took the musicians seven years to prepare, to record and to present their debut long play to audience. The long story short, Keane is not one of those bands that managed to grab the fame immediately. Thereby, only in 2003, not long before Hopes And Fears was issued, the band released the hit single called Everybody’s Changing, which played its highly important role, brought the popularity and helped the band to make a great step forward. Due to that very song the band was spoken about and the artists got a great opportunity to move on. And that is exactly what they did: the first long play titled Hopes And Fears proved to be super successful and it got multi platinum status in Keane’s motherland. No wonder that the quartet became interesting for people far from Great Britain, in Europe and in the USA. Two years later the rockers pleased their fans with brand new studio attempt Under The Iron Sea, which completely satisfied listeners’ expectations. Just like by the schedule the discography was enlarged by another, not less original record Perfect Symmetry. Then the numerous fans, who had already got used to the identical periods of waiting, were expecting the new album by 2010. However it took Keane musicians four years to record the new long play. Well, the long-awaited release of Strangeland finally took place.

Strangeland brings listeners back to Keane’s roots

When the musicians started working on their fourth record, they obviously wanted to get back to the moods and motives that were ruling on two first albums. The band was supported by help of the famous producer Dan Grech-Marguerat, who is a great fan of Keane’s creativity. That is why it is quite logical that the entire collaboration proved to be successful. It is simple to make sure of it: the very first song, You Are Young, creates an incredibly positive mood: major chords and bright, even transparent sound will please old fans and will remind on Keane’s old material. The following song called Silenced By The Night also will be hardly ignored by connoisseurs of alternative rock. It is performed in the best traditions of that genre, but at the same time Keane’s signature style with the major role of keyboards is easily recognized. That unique feature brings lightness to songs, and in combination with guitar melodies and juicy bass these components create an incredible effect. Of course, the long play had enough space for beautiful mid-tempo ballads, and special place among them is taken by the composition Starting Line. It feels that it does sound in British way, if it is possible to say that. Actually, why not? Keane definitely deserved their notable place among the best British performers.

Alternative rock from Battle

The quartet from Battle keeps on playing their game. Highly melodiousness compositions that became the main reason why the band is so loved have always been and they remain the major signature feature of Keane. Arrangements fit the vocals of irreplaceable frontman Thomas Chaplin just perfectly, and is not it the ideal balance between the music and the voice, that is searched by all the artists? This way or another, the quartet found its style a long time ago and luckily it is not going to change anything dramatically. And this is a good thing, in fact, as soon as listeners enjoyed and highly evaluated long-winded and bright sound. Moreover, numerous listeners were so happy to know that Keane decided to go back to the sound of two first albums. Well, fans’ expectations were completely satisfied in May of 2012, when the long-awaited Strangeland finally appeared in the shops. Twelve excellent songs will please even the most sophisticated listeners, because the rockers were choosing compositions for the fourth album in a truly elaborated and careful way, separating those that they enjoyed less. All in all they came up with a great long play, and nobody has questions about four-years waiting anymore.