By Haleigh Miller, ’12, News Section Editor
British band Keane released their fourth album, Night Train, this year. The wildly successful group has sold over 10 million albums around the world. They’ve been compared to bands like Coldplay, Snow Patrol, and Travis for their soft rock, alternative sound.
As in their previous three albums (Hopes and Fears, Under the Iron Sea, and Perfect Symmetry), Keane’s emphasis on the piano as opposed to lead guitar gives them a much softer, melodic sound. And while lead singer Tom Chaplin does have an extremely pleasant accent that bleeds into his singing voice quite nicely, Night Train isn’t my favorite album Keane has done. That’s not to say it isn’t decent; the band maintained their unique sound and innovative lyrics (for the most part).
While listening to “Ishin Denshin (You’ve Got to Help Yourself)”, I was getting so sick of the phrase “see how the world goes ‘round, you’ve got to help yourself” that if I had heard it one more time, I might have thrown my iPod at the wall. But other than that particular song, there were really only a few minor critiques. Some of the songs are repetitive or reminiscent of bad victory-dance scenes from various 80’s movies (“Looking Back” comes to mind). Although the album falls prey to repetition, the songs are mostly decent. Once you get past the cheesy harmony of “Looking Back”, it’s really quite good. “Back in Time” and “Clear Skies” are in the same boat.
On the upshot, the album does retain most of Keane’s good qualities: an unusual sound that I haven’t yet discovered with any other band, innovative lyrics, and a niche of their own. “My Shadow” reminded me the most of the sound from their other albums; it got closer to their minor-key, rock roots as opposed to the sunshine-and-lollipops-even-though-the-lyrics-are-sad pop style they’ve recently drifted into. Over all, I would recommend Night Train to someone with an appreciation for quirky British pop and an affinity for enjoying music their friends might not get. But other than that, I wouldn’t recommend spending money on the album.
Photo courtesy of http://www.creativereview.co.uk/images/uploads/2010/03/keane_nighttrain_ep_lowres_0.jpg
