Keane - 'Under The Iron Sea' (Island) Released 12/06/06

Like a scene from The Shining, here come Keane axing into the charts to massage your teenage angst and provide the soundtrack to your nightmares. Yes, the soft centred crowd pleasers are back with latest offering ‘Under The Iron Sea’: can you hear the soaring chorus in that title?

Hang on a second, the publicity for this album promises we’ll hear something new and different from Keane; the Sussex boys will fall off the Cold Play wagon in spectacular style! We can see it now – Island Records putting each band member on a 12 step programme of inoffensive indie to recoup imminent lost earnings as the charming boys go all Towers of London! It could be so beautiful.

But alas, apart from ‘Is it Any Wonder’ being an ear-catching number with promise and power, the rest of the album conforms to a tried and tested former type: yawn. 

The album opens feebly. The drums in ‘Atlantic’ are coupled with whining strings to give a typical Keane oxymoron: an emotional yet empty song. Similarly, ‘Crystal Ball’ has the same fake stadium pleasing quality found all over ‘Hopes And Fears’.   

You can admire Tom Chaplin’s voice as a stand alone quality, however, his lyrical obsession with love torn relationships and longing mean the feelings about which he sings lose all relevance. Any energy found in songs like ‘Leaving So Soon’ is swiftly removed when you realise Keane have failed to shake that dull, money making sound of ‘This Is the Last Time’.         

No doubt ‘Under The Iron Sea’ will be very commercially popular and whatever we say won’t make a difference to its high charting. 

However, in our humble opinion we’re starting to see some cracks in this now ubiquitous sentimentalism favoured by so many; Cold Play have vowed to give us a break from their particular brand, perhaps sensing the disquiet in the air. Some songs on ‘Under the Iron Sea’ are simply boring and will lead to the skip button on your stereo feeling the burn as you desperately search for three minutes you can listen to right the way through without cringing. You’ll be disappointed.