Can you hear the call? 4 Out Of 5 Stars
I'm a sucker for Keane's brand of British Pop; anthemic songs with high soaring melodies and emotional impact. The kind of music Coldplay knocks off in their sleep and Snow Patrol can mount on a good album. "Strangeland" is a return to form in that regard. The synth-pop of "Perfect Symmetry" and the experiments of "Night Train" are gone, replaced with a back to basics approach to composer Tim Rice Oxley's emotional approach and the soaring vocals of Tim Chaplin. There's a lot of calls to the 'wide eyed dreamers' (in "Sovereign Light Café") or 'we're gonna rise again' on the ecstatic first single, "Silenced By The Night."
Pianos plink in the background and there's pipes and flutes, like you can just tell Keane was aiming for the big emotional statement. While this was done perfectly on the album "Under The Iron Sea," on "Strangeland," the band has matured into craftsmen. The lyrics are unforced, but also lack depth. A lesser band would have a calamity in this situation, but Keane have become sharp enough to overcome the occasional triteness by having enough of a sense of space and nuance (both "Neon River" and the excellant "Sea Fog," the discs elegiac closer). There;s also an earnestness to Chaplin's singing that assists in outshining the odd weaknesses.
"Strangeland" is not Keane's finest hour, but it is a return to what makes the unique in their world of pop. "Sometimes our fingers graze the sky" he cheers on "Day Will Come." With sweet and oft-catchy songs that recall Coldplay and U2, Keane are happy with grasping for the stars, and "Strangeland" will satisfy fans of "Under The Iron Sea" or "Hopes and Dreams."
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