KEANE HOPES AND FEARS ALBUM ISLAND, UNIVERSAL RELEASE: MAY 26, 2004 REVIEW: JUNE 10, 2004

I’ve had some rough weeks, breaking up from my girlfriend and getting thrown into a big project at work. Not a good combination, since it’s hard to think about boring stuff like XML when you’ve just broken up. Then suddenly a friend of mine told me to listen to Keane, the best thing since sliced bread, according to him. Said and done, I got hold of a copy of “Hopes and Fears” and gave it a try. And damn what an album it is. It came into my life and made it a bit easier, which is quite a feat.
One interesting aspect of Keane is that they don’t use guitars. Instead they rely on drums, piano, synthesizers and bass, concocting sweet melodies and harmonies that made my spirits soar, and put a smile to my face. I just put the album on repeat, and my worldly troubles seemed pretty distant. The song trio “Bend and Break”, “Everybody’s Changing” and “Bedshaped” is impossible to get tired of. Trust me, I’ve tried, and played them relentlessly.
The music journalists in the UK are falling over themselves trying to tell the public that Keane is the new hope for British pop music. Such sentiments mean little to me, but this truly is a fantastic debut album. The three lads have known each other since school and singer Tom Chaplain has the face of a baby, but the voice of an angel. This is no boy band put together by a greedy manager. They sing about love of course, both lost and found, and about being lonely. Not very original perhaps, but they do it with intelligence and wit.
If you like solid song writing instead of noise experiments, you can’t go wrong.

JOHAN CARLSSON