‘Strangeland’: The Story Behind Keane’s Uplifting Fourth Album
After the experimental ‘Perfect Symmetry,’ the band played to its strengths on the richly melodic follow-up.
Keane’s third album, Perfect Symmetry rewarded the band with its third consecutive U.K. chart-topper and a Top 10 placing in the U.S. Yet the record’s success was a mixed blessing for the British trio, who felt its sound was defined by its production rather than the quality of its songs. For album number four, Strangeland, Keane decided the material itself would be the priority.
“We talked a lot about the sound and ambition of the record beforehand…about going back to the songwriting of their first two albums, Hopes And Fears and Under The Iron Sea,” producer Dan Grech-Marguerat told Billboard when Strangeland was released in May 2012. “We wanted to make a record that sounded rich and simpler.”
Listen to Keane’s Strangeland now.
Keane hooked up with Grech-Marguerat after enjoying his production work for Radiohead, Howling Bells, and The Vaccines. His methodology chimed with Keane’s primary tunesmiths, vocalist Tom Chaplin and keyboard player Tim Rice-Oxley, who told CBSNews.com that getting the best from Strangeland involved “thinking just about the music rather than any other possible influencing factors.”
Accordingly, Keane eschewed the synths, beats, and experimental textures of Perfect Symmetry and went back to doing what they did best – writing melancholic, yet uplifting, keyboard-driven pop songs with a universal appeal. Sonically, the band was given an extra boost with the full-time addition of bassist Jesse Quin, while Grech-Marguerat’s widescreen production imbued Strangeland’s music with a new-found depth and clarity.
In fact, it’s a testament to all concerned that virtually all of the album’s 12 tracks could have been singles. The exhilarating “Silenced By The Night,” anthemic “Disconnected,” and “Sovereign Light Café” (a yearning paean to a favorite diner of the band’s situated on their native south coast of England) were chosen to represent Strangeland, but they were surrounded by equally impressive cuts. Indeed, “Watch How You Go,” the U2-esque exultation of “You Are Young,” and the hymnal “Black Rain” are among the very best of Keane’s canon.
Reviews of Strangeland were largely positive, with The Guardian suggesting that “what Keane perfect in these stadium-swelling anthems is the meticulous, yet ineffable melodic progression that goes straight for the emotional reflex.” This proved to be the case: The album’s broad, radio-friendly appeal resulted in Strangeland providing Keane another U.S. Top 20 placing and its fourth consecutive U.K. No. 1 album success. This time, too, the band was happy with the fruit of its labor.
“[Strangeland] is a very emotional album,” Rice-Oxley told NME. “The title track is about setting off on a certain path in life and thinking it’s going to go one way, but finding out life’s taken a detour. Pretty much every song is about that, but it’s a more hopeful record than it might sound.”
