One of the most successful British bands of the last half-decade
is London’s Keane. Arriving five years ago with their debut Hopes
and Fears, the guitar free trio followed in Coldplay’s early
success, prodding the listener with biting piano pop that stormed
the charts both at home and abroad. Now, fast–forward five
years, and Keane is equally as successful three albums in, if not
more so. Yet, the dark piano–pop slapped on Hopes and Fears
was expanded upon on the last two albums, Under the Iron Sea
and more recently, Perfect Symmetry. But Perfect Symmetry
landed nearly two years ago, and the band has been busy at
work, mostly crossing the globe playing gigs and intermittingly
recording back home in London. And what comes next,
according to pianist Tim Rice–Oxley, is anybody’s guess. “I think
the story of a band takes many years to be told,” replies the
songwriter, who shares duties with vocalist Tom Chaplin. “My
hope is that as we continue to prove that we are musically brave
and hungry, people will continue to be intrigued and excited by
our music. Personally, I didn’t get in to U2 until they released
Achtung Baby, and similarly I’m sure there are many people who
weren't into Keane after Hopes and Fears who suddenly found
that they got a kick out of Perfect Symmetry.”
After another lengthy tour taking them from Japan to
Kitchener and back, Keane will prep a mini-album of sorts, a set
of new songs and odds and ends set for release early next year.
“We’ve made another record, albeit what we’re calling a “mini–
album”,” reveals Rice–Oxley. “We did it mostly while we’ve been
on the road. There should be four or five new songs on there,
plus a couple of other stragglers —remixes and such like — and
it’s going to be a really interesting piece of work. There are two
songs that we did in collaboration with the genius Somalian
