Britain’s dullest band, Keane, have returned with another snooze fest in the form of new album ‘Strangeland’. Despite their slight attempt at a change of direction on ‘Perfect Symmetry’, Keane’s latest release proves that they have taken a step backwards with pretty poor results.
Swiftly moving on from their experimentation with synth-pop, the band have returned to their roots on ‘Strangeland’ with an album packed full of sweeping piano-based pop/rock anthems. The main problem Keane seem to have lies in their inability to produce a song that doesn’t sound like everything they, and others, have done before; and filling an album with a bunch of songs that all sound reasonably similar is never a recipe for success.
Tracks like ‘You Are Young’ and ‘On the Road’ are what Keane are all about: clichéd attempts at uplifting, feel-good records with big stadium choruses and lyrics like “You and I, we’re gonna rise again”. The tracks are generally very well produced without seeming too busy or overpowering and the album has a good mix of slow ballads and fast-paced tracks. However, the problem is that none of the tracks are that interesting, meaning that the album doesn’t really go anywhere.
Having teased us with glimmers of pop brilliance on ‘Perfect Symmetry’, there is nothing on their latest release to suggest that Keane have progressed much since their debut. Although it is difficult to criticise the band for going back to the sound that made them popular, their last album led us to believe that they had escaped the bore-pop we had become accustomed to hearing from them. However, any high hopes we may have had for an edgier follow-up have been dashed, with ‘Strangeland’ being a massive disappointment.
Overall Rating: 2/5
