Amazon.co.uk Review
Would it be outlandish to suggest that wholesome rugby-shouldered ruddy-faced English piano-pop boys Keane have spent the best part of their two-album career fanning the impression that they exist somewhere between an easy Mothers’ Day gift and the album it’s ok to give your girlfriend back when you split up, just in order to blow everyone out of the water like 80s neon-pop commandos with the boldness of their third? You know, utilising the element of surprise? Probably, but even though their debut (
Hopes & Fears) and its follow up (
Under the Iron Sea) may have been broader creative successes than many care to admit, it is true that
Perfect Symmetry is a synth-brandishing Tyrannosaurus Rex next to those trundlingly melodic Trojan horses. From the moment "Spiralling", the single that made a nation choke on its Yakult, erupts like a
Top of the Pops volcano with flashes of David Bowie, Talking Heads, Erasure, Prefab Sprout and James, amongst others--with the "WHOOOO!" interjections impacting like lava hitting an LA swimming pool and sending cocktails flying--the album is generally as taut, bulky and bronzed as a teen Arnold Schwarzenegger. Old habits die hard and there is still much in the way mid-paced melancholy, but they are sung with clarity and the songwriting stays tight with some deep lyrics and turns of phrase to balance out the vague and which presumably reflect Tom Chaplin’s documented decent into addiction. "Playing Along", a beautifully arranged set of textures and gathering emotional bursts, is a particular high.
--James Berry
CD Description
Third album, following 2006's 'Under The Iron Sea', from the hugely successful Brit pop-rock stars whose piano-led, emotive and melancholy songs have placed them in the same bracket as fellow travellers Coldplay and Snow Patrol. On 'Perfect Symmetry' they take some chances with their sound, experimenting with synthesizers and more aggressive beats such as those to be heard on the 80s-influenced, free download single'Spiralling'.
