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Keane - Perfect Symmetry
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No disrespect to big daddies Jerry Lee Lewis, Billy Joel, and Elton John, but piano rock often fails miserably at, well, rocking. And Keane, the British three-piece behind several successive hit singles Stateside — including ''Somewhere Only We Know'' and ''Is It Any Wonder?'' — have tended in the past to make even their touchy-feely counterparts in Coldplay sound positively badass by comparison. But on their third release Perfect Symmetry, the band — still without either guitar or bass — have suddenly, gratifyingly, found their mojo. ''Spiralling,'' the opener and first single, is brash, ambitious, even sexy, built toweringly on strutting melody lines and anthemic vocal woohs. On that and propulsive follow-up ''The Lovers Are Losing,'' it's as if some little T. Rex/Franz Ferdinand glam genie wormed its way into singer Tom Chaplin's ear — and then got all hyped up watching old Bono clips on YouTube. Granted, the album is substantially front-loaded; nearly all the standouts come early, including the elegant ''Better Than This.'' Still, there are small pleasures later on, like ''Pretend That You're Alone,'' a wry, midtempo charmer, and various pleasant returns to mellow form (see ''Playing Along'' and the soaring title track). Only a few missteps, like the treacly, oddly Josh Grobanesque ''You Don't See Me,'' mar the mood. As rock goes, Symmetry remains a relatively quiet riot, but in the context of the band itself, it's a welcome revelation. B+ Download This: Listen to ''Spiralling'' on the band's MySpace page...full text |
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| Billboard |
| Ever the piano-rock bridesmaid to Coldplay, Keane opened its last album, "Under the Iron Sea" (2006), with dour strings, military funeral snare hits and weepy arpeggios. But "Perfect Symmetry" bursts out of the gate with a suite of giddy, '80s-inflected Brit pop songs that, surprisingly, suit the band well. "Spiralling" recalls Keane's radio hit "Is It Any Wonder?" with a healthy injection of synth; "Better Than This" is a dead ringer for a Smiths song, liberally using hand claps, singer Tom Chaplin's falsetto and a singing saw, of all things. When the band finally does return to familiar territory (soaring, ebony-and-ivory drama), it spares nothing. "I dream in e-mails/Worn-out phrases," Chaplin broods on the title track, first a cappella, and then over the rolling thunder of the keys. —Kerri Mason...full text |
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Keane's third album opens with a group of excited voices, somewhere between gasping and celebratory, expelling a tuneful "ooooh!" Fans of the ceaselessly exuberant Brit-pop trio will find themselves doing the same as the album progresses. It is a surprise and a thrill to hear that even as the band enters its "artsy" phase - expanding its instrumental palette to include mewling saws and clattering percussion - the songs remain uniformly excellent from stem to stern. That first tune, "Spiralling," opens up to a joyful "Let's Dance"-era David Bowie groove and chunky synth riffs indebted to the '80s. Luckily, it's mostly the good stuff from that decade that Keane has been listening to and refracting through its own warm sensibilities. There are airy, expansive stacks of harmonies and grinding guitars ("Playing Along") and tender vocals ("You Don't See Me") that Freddie Mercury and Queen would appreciate....full text |
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