keane's flawed and glorious follow-up

i can't believe it's taken me this long to get a review up. hey i've been busy! well not really. just extremely, extremely lazy.

this is keane's second record, the long-awaited, much-discussed, hugely-hyped under the iron sea. yes, the fish would drown, blah blah. but i think it's supposed to be a metaphor or something. oh, they're so dramatic.

this is a much more difficult record than their debut, for a number of reasons. it's less evenly paced, less cohesive, darker, richer, more layered, and yes, angrier. though "angry" put through the keane filter is: "grumbley, irritated, and a little sad, but still optimistic that everything will be fine -- or at least fantasizing that everything will be fine."

the bad news:

"a bad dream." they've taken what could be the best song off the album and turned it into a crushing disappointment with the chorus. everything about it promises fabulousness, then when singer tom chaplin gets to the chorus... the chorus has been taken directly from "nothing in my way." i couldn't believe it. it was like songwriter tim rice-oxley had come up with this amazing idea, but was missing a way to tie it in, so just thought, "oh i liked what i did with 'nothing in my way,' i'll just use it again. no one will notice." SO maddening, that it ruins an otherwise brilliant song for me.

"crystal ball." while musically, it is just fantastic, lyrically, it makes me want to bash my head into a table. "oh crystal ball/crystal ball/save us all/tell me life is beautiful..." it sounds like lyrics i wrote when i was 10. i completely understand where songwriter tim rice-oxley is coming from here, and i get the point, as the rest of the song makes it quite clear. this is your standard "touring's a bitch" song about losing identities and sense of place because of the constant traveling, and watching themselves sink into monotony. it's an oft-visited subject, and musically, rice-oxley takes it to a different place than i've ever heard it taken. but those lyrics! my GOD, so cheesy. you can almost hear the thought process: "so, what rhymes with chrystal ball? ball... small... gaul... crawl... ALL! hmm, now what would fit with 'all...'" these lyrics need more work, is all i'm saying.

"put it behind you." i appreciate the sentiment, and lyrically this song hits closer to home that any song keane's ever written. possibly more than any band has ever written. but the mix is like fingernails on a chalk board. tom chaplin, arguably one of the best male singers in rock, has a nasty habit of taking deep, gulping breaths between words due to his lack of formal training. usually, it's not a big deal. noticeable, but it makes that ethereal voice sound more human, which is nice. the vocals for this album were done in the booth to make things sound more... oh i don't know. live? immediate? somethin'. and on every other song, it works nicely. but on this one, you hear every gasp, every gulp, every consanent as you can tell he's too close to the mic and spitting... it just takes away from an otherwise great song so much, and that for me, it's a skip over. which makes me very sad.

"the iron sea." a little musical interlude which, in a small snippet, is nice and moody. as a full song, it's repetative and annoying.

"nothing in my way," "try again," and "hamburg song." all great songs (with "nothing in my way" being extremely underrated, by the way), and no quarrel with them. the reason they're in this section is because they played them to death on tour as previews of the new album, so by the time the album came out, i was already sick of them. it's sad that new songs can already sound worn the day you purchase a new record. and of course, it's my fault for seeing them so many times, but still.

the good news:

"atlantic." this song leads off the album. besides "station approach" by elbow and "2+2=5" by radiohead, this is possibly the greatest lead off song in the last 10 years of rock. bold statement, i know, but have you heard this song? rice-oxley has not only managed to capture the mood of the entire album (which is saying something, because as i mentioned above, the album is un-even), but he's managed to encapsulate exactly what keane is about in one 4 minute and 13 second song. it's rich, a little quirky (genius drums from richard hughes), sad, longing, a little desperate, but ultimately, unfailingly optimistic and even a little niave. every second of this song works. listen to it with your eyes closed, preferably in a dark room.

"leaving so soon." while the jury's still out on the questionable bridge ("leaaaaaving, LEEEAAAAVING soo-ooo-ooo-ooooon, soo-ooo-ooo-oooon..." yikes), the lyrics are by far the most biting and direct that i've heard from this band, and the music is exhilirating. the song is about how the band reacts to media impressions of them, and the lyrics couldn't make their reaction more clear: "a slap/in the face/in the face for you now/just might do now..." i love it when tim gets bitchy!

"hamburg song." yes, also marked in the bad news section, but that's only because i'd heard it so much. it's a delicate, graceful love song, but not in the way people would think: it's about the songwriter's love for his lead singer, friends since birth. he's watching his best friend drift away from him, and the lyrics are sweet and melancholy and questioning, while the music is simple and lilting. brilliant vocals from chaplin, as usual. a gorgeous composition.

"a broken toy," and "the frog prince." they're mentioned together because they are not only the best songs off this album, they are the two best songs keane has ever written. yes, some drum riffs from "a broken toy" are taken directly from "pyramid song" by radiohead, but who cares, it works. they're very different songs, but so musically layered and sophisticated and so lyrically brilliant, they fit together at the end of the album perfectly.

"a broken toy" is again about tim rice-oxley's relationship with his childhood friend, singer tom chaplin, and is again, one of those internal grumble-and-question-and-self-pity-and grumble fests that i think everyone who's had a row with their best friend can relate to. "god he's pissing me off. he's such a childish asshole. but you know, is it me? could my expectations be too high? maybe i'm the problem. ohhh i'm such a horrible friend! i'm a miserable failure not only as a friend, but as a human being. but my GOD he's being SUCH a prick!!" the music is choppy and somewhat unstructured, which highlights the superior musicianship of the three individuals playing drums, bass, piano, and playing with effects. it is a joy to experience.

"the frog prince" is a biting, uplifting ode to the lead singer of an english indie band who was once a friend to keane, then slagged them off in the press. rumour has it, they're talking about johnny borrell of razorlight, but others have said it's about james blunt. either way, it's structured around a fairy tale, and shows just a wee bit more of the pissiness from the east sussex song writer as he writes that keane will actually prevail in this industry because they remember who their friends are and are not stuck-up assholes, as in 'the meek will inherit the earth.' EAT THAT! it's a beautiful, lush, and brilliantly mastered song, and one you simply will never tire of.

the album is not as easy a sell as hopes and fears was, obviously. they're more experienced now, and they've been through a lot. they're a little harder, and little more bitter. but that optimism is still there, and it soaks every part of every song. one of the reasons the flaws on this record are so infuriating is because when the songs work, they work so brilliantly, that it's a long way to come down for sophmoric lyrics and blatantly borrowing choruses from other songs on the same album.

but, rarely is an album perfect. in fact, the only perfect album i can think of is 'ok computer,' but even that has 'fitter happier,' which i invariably skip over.

overall, this is a more important and more meaningful album than hopes and fears. it shows how far they've come, how much they've matured musically, and how much more direct tim rice-oxley feels he can be with his lyrics. you can tell when he's really angry, or when he's so introspective that he simply can't think of the appropriate words.

i think that's what makes him a truly great artist and songwriter: there is no questioning his humanity. his sort of inner monologue is shared by all of us, and that's why this works.

under the iron sea: easily one of the best albums of 2006.