Keane - Hopes and Fears REVIEW
SL Co-Best Album of the Year
This is the second of my best albums of the year, or as we used to do in high school to be overly egalitarian and indiscriminate, the SL Co-Best Album of the Year ... this one much like Hot Fuss will nicely fit into my SL album hall of fame
Keane - Hopes and Fears REVIEW: A++
This one actually is a little over a year old, as it came out late last May. I discovered the music of Keane by listening to Virgin UK radio last year, after hearing the songs "This Is The Last Time" and "Somewhere Only We Know", I had thought I was listening to that band whose name sounds similar, but starts with the letter Q ... I then plucked the Sessions sampler from iT and I was hooked on the simple goodness that is Keane
This album has three, by any standard, signature hits: the two mentioned above and "Everybody's Changing". However, there are others that are excellent, the emotional piano ballads, "Bedshaped" and "We Might As Well Be Strangers", and the compelling pop of "Bend and Break", "Your Eyes Open", and "Can't Stop Now". This is not to say that the remaining tracks are filler or have no purpose. They fit and are solid efforts that fill in the remainder of the picture, and hold up the audio theme of the album. So, if you were wondering, yes this is a listen your way through album.
The music is low powered, in that there are no rock guitars and the volume of the tracks rarely elevates past a relative 5 -- this is a piano, drum, bass outfit for the most part. The other kind of unique aspect of the band is that they are a trio, with a true vocalist and two musicians.
The goodness of Keane, in my opinion, is their ability to write songs that have some lyrical and emotional weight, yet do not fall in under their complexity or their innovativeness, or sound completely overwrought/contrived. It really seems to be just about writing and playing compelling low powered music, laden with hooks and catchy stick to you passages.
Some critics would argue that Keane is somehow too derivative of Radiohead or Coldplay. Outside of their similar low powered approach to music, I believe the comparisons end there, Keane is certainly not afraid to write a catchy song that might become popular, and their vocalist has a very warm, listenable vocal tone (quite similar to the late Fred M.), unlike the whiny nasalities of the two aforementioned bands. Keane is really a nice alternative to the other bands, especially if one is more inclined towards hooks and instantly catchy music
It took me a year to write this?!?!?!? -- this one is a must listen, not must wordsmith concepts to describe it album
Our highest recommendation ... A++
P.S. So glad to see one radio station here dabbling with their music, however I think they should PLAY MORE OF IT, rather than playing Somewhere Only ... to absolute death