Keane
Is It Any Wonder?
Keane
played a blinder with their debut album Hopes and Fears, managing
to attract gauche indie kids, and also the kind of people who
only buy their music from Tesco. Previous hits were epic, yet
under-stated. ‘Universal’, but intimate. Suburban
ennui had not been captured so well in pop music since the heyday
of the Pet Shop Boys.
Some grumbled, however, that their piano-over-guitars approach
might seem a little stifling beyond the first album.
So here we have Keane: Mark 2. Do they want to make the leap
from festival favourites to stadium stalwarts? The answer seems
a definite ‘yes’, according to this first single
from forthcoming album ‘Under The Iron Sea’.
Chugging U2-style intro? Check. Angsty lyrics and sneery Thom
Yorke-y vocal? Check. The suburban ennui now seems global, and
a little contrived. Mercifully, there is no elusion to George
Bush. But you can still picture Geldof dancing round his mansion
to it.
On the plus side, previous download ‘Atlantic’ suggests
Nu Keane can also be haunting, evocative, and self-assured.
by David
Wright
