Picture the scene. Tesco HQ is thriving with executives, overjoyed after securing another few billion pounds of profit, whilst the rest of the world apparently plummets into economic meltdown. The novelty of diving into an ever-expanding cess pit of cash whilst singing the Ducktails theme tune is starting to wear off, when suddenly the phone rings. “Good news gents – the new Keane album will be on the shelves in October!…Hurrah!” …and so the celebrations continue, safe in the knowledge that the housewives favourites will be making a welcome return to shopping trolleys everywhere, taking pride of place alongside the four pints of semi and Bourbon creams.
A cosy little scene I’m sure you will agree. After all, the three public school lads have carved themselves a niche of clever niceness, building a reputation on all-encompassing piano hooks, mass-appeal melodies and songs that might as well be the results of arduous laboratory testing. Messing with a formula that has paid very handsomely would surely be completely out of the question.
So imagine my surprise when the details of album number three started to trickle in. The band had decamped to Berlin, the scene of Bowie’s finest triumphs, and better still, they took their very own Thin White Duke along for the ride. Stuart Price, a major label force since taking the helm of Madonna’s Confessions album and tour was on board, and the band vowed to throw any traces of good taste out of the window, all in the name of the dreaded E-word: experimentation.
Cynics wondered if good taste ever applied to Keane in the first place, while pop aficionados quietly considered the prospect of the kings of mid-tempo piano balladry finally stepping up and delivering the shiny pop masterpiece we all knew they were capable of.
Sure enough, the signs were very good once the band released Spiralling into the wild, a song unashamedly reeking of the 1980’s. The influences are easy to spot, from the Let’s Dance percussion, to a genuinely funky bass line flown in from Rip It Up, via the most ridiculous synth hook this side of (Keep Feeling) Fascination. Listen carefully and you’ll even hear (gasp) guitars. To be honest, it’s a brilliant, fun song, a refreshing break from a band too often occupied with doom and gloom.
The official first single, The Lovers Are Losing, bears all the hallmarks of a Keane standard – the shimmering synth-scape, ambiguous lyrics about love and dreaming, and an infectious melody, all tied to a belter of a chorus that easily passes the ‘Match Of The Day goal of the month montage music’ test. Fortunately for us, Lovers avoids total schmaltz thanks to a passionate Tom Chaplin vocal that brings tenderness to an otherwise sterile plea to a drifting relationship.
Experimentation Keane-style rears its head on Better Than This, where the trademark piano takes a back seat to a wash of synths, handclaps, guitars, harmonies, banjo (?!) and a bouncy hook ripped from another tale of anti-fame, Ashes To Ashes. The sound of a band pushing themselves out of their comfort zone is deafening, and whether you consider it to be calculated or not, Better Than This is a standout cut on the album.
Another highlight is You Haven’t Told Me Anything, built around a sparse electro beat, funk guitar and all manner of synth bleeps and squelches. It’s a more ominous take on the traditional Keane singalong, sonically removed from the piano ballads of old – Somewhere Only We Know this ain’t.
Having been treated to this opening pop attack, it’s almost a crushing disappointment when the band slips into something a little more comfortable. The album’s title track is a sharply worded attack on terrorism (“Who are you, what are you fighting for? Holy truth? Brother I chose this mortal life”) set to a forgettable piano-based backing that blunts any poignancy in the lyrical message.
And so the tone is set for the remainder of Perfect Symmetry, as the band reverts to type and glides into blandness. You Don’t See Me could have been lifted from the more introspective (read: uninspired) moments of U2’s recent output, music to wave your mobile around to. Likewise, Playing Along and closing track Love Is the End aim to tug at the heartstrings, but come off as desperate and overwrought.
The one highlight of the back-end of the album is Pretend That You’re Alone, a frankly bizarre addition to the Keane catalogue. Talking Heads were cited as an influence by the band during recording, but few would have guessed that it would be their ‘world music’ album Naked that would be ripped for Perfect Symmetry. The guitar and brass stabs are admirable, while the near-dance beat and twee lyrics about monkeys, weeds and meadows conjures up some much-needed light relief.
Perfect Symmetry won’t win over the dissenters, and if anything it provides more ammo to those who will never come to appreciate the three middle class chaps from East Sussex. But none of this will affect sales or bother the fan base who have been treated to a revitalised Keane; while the band themselves can enjoy a little smugness for successfully taking a step outside the box whilst staying as accessible as ever. Everyone’s a winner – pass the port chaps….
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