Keane - 'Perfect Symmetry'
It's become a cliche of Keane reviews that you have to, at some point, refer to Tom Chaplin as a choirboy, and until fairly recently I assumed this was just because of his round little face, his easily-reddened cheekular area, his high, pure voice, and the fact that you can picture him in a cassock in a way which is just not true of, say, the lead singer out of the Pigeon Detecives.
But, since , with a special guest star in tow, and Tom got himself a nice smart haircut, a new interpretation of the choirboy mantra has emerged. Look...
Spooky, eh?
And speaking of things appearing to be other things, isn't it strange that a certain demographic of indie fan has always had a hard time with Keane making the epic noise that they do, while applauding the Killers for doing a pretty similar thing? Aural bigness, yelpy vocals, the letter K...I mean, some consistency would be useful here, people!
Personally, I tend to think that both bands suffer from what I like to call Bouncy Castle Syndrome, in that they tend to puff their songs to a large size, so that every bar and beat is straining, and the fabric of music becomes taut and shiny. You might want to immerse yourself in the sound, and let it carry you away, but no matter how much you jump or burrow, you're not really going anywhere.
Nevertheless, Keane are very good at creating a propulsive wash of sound, something which gives the impression of high-speed travel, and this is where having a singer whose voice can act like the wind beneath these wings is so useful. They're not here to tell you they're no good, or that they've got loads of money and you haven't, or that they could totally fulfill all of your bedroom needs (including, should you desire it, putting up a shelf).
No, what Keane do is to take you up into the sky and point down at all the pretty things you can see in creation. And this, above all else, is where the choirboy thing makes the most sense.
After all, isn't their job broadly the same sort of thing? Aled, you have a rival!
Download: Out now
CD Released: December 29th
(Fraser McAlpine)
Comments Post your comment