Quite Keane

We all buy the music we do for different reasons. Traditionally, I buy only on recommendation. But I do understand there are brave people who buy music off the shelves on impulse or thanks to curiousity. My latest acquisition falls in this category. Keane's Hopes and Fears sounded like a boy band with an inane album title to boot, but I still went ahead and bought it, because I read somewhere that it was doing brisk business (not the best of reasons to buy music), and that is was well, quite good. (Ah, so it WAS a recommendation that spurred me on!)

One thing which struck me as interesting is that Keane is a 3-member band, with NO guitar. The last and only time, I've listened to a band without possibly the most popular instrument in the world was way back in Bangalore, when Criminalenglish introduced me to Morphine, a band with drums, bass guitar and a saxophone. Keane is not quite so exotic or dark, but their simple three chord progressions (or what passes for it, in a band with no guitar) makes it easy to listen to, and I suspect the music isn't that easy to replicate. Hopes and Fears though is very much for a particular mood - in turns, I felt nostalgic for no reason, wistful without cause and sweetly alienated. Such can be the power of a band. The songs did blur into one another, without any number standing out. But what I did appreciate a lot are the stretches of silence between songs, which is an underrated courtesy to the listener, and not to be found in many albums.

I've a feeling Keane will grow on me, but it's more for the lyrics than anything else. I leave you with words from a song you just might have heard - Somewhere Only We Know.

I walked across an empty land
I knew the pathway like the back of my hand
I felt the earth beneath my feet
Sat by the river and it made me complete
Oh simple thing where have you gone
I'm getting old and I need something to rely on
So tell me when you're gonna let me in
I'm getting tired and I need somewhere to begin

The rest of the lyrics for the album can be accessed here. My favourite news site's reviewer however, thinks the "radio-friendly simplicity of the lyrics grates". Maybe I just liked singer Tom Chaplin's style!