Yay it's 72 days until Christmas!And 20 days until I'm going to the Keane concert.
3 days until my first exam.
And 1 day since Keane's newest album, "Perfect Symmetry" officially released. I mean, it's been on the internet for yonks, but now I have it here, in it's sweet, shiny cover. So I'll tell you about it.
I have had "Perfect Symmetry" on repeat ever since I got it in my possession a mere 24 hours ago. And I will initiate my review by saying that I don't like the four last tracks on the album. They're okay, I guess - but they aren't as ambitious and (well, actually "Black Burning Heart" is SO ambitious that it totally backfires on itself) energetic as the seven first tracks.
Their release single "Spiralling" is definately one of the strongest elements on this album. The song "Perfect Symmetry" is pompous and audiably challenging, but is sung with all the force and power that is required to emphasise the quite dramatic lyrics is has, like: "I wish I could make sense of what we do/ Burning down the capitals/ The wisest of the animals". But don't get me wrong, it is a really good song.
"The Lovers Are Losing" and "You Haven't Told Me Anything" are by far my favourites. They are worth purchasing the entire album for. Especially when the album contains "Better Than This", "Again and Again", and "You Don't See Me". --Erhm, yeah, you will find to your grand surprise that I have just listed the first seven tracks on the album. But like I said in the beginning - they're brilliant, and well produced and original yet still Keane'y! One other important thing is that this album is way more upbeat, playful and almost funky. You can dance to this!
Keane has always had good lyrics and this album is definitely no exception, they may sometimes be a little too philosophical though, you know, it gets so emotional and soulful that it doesn't even make any sense anymore. "I wish that I could be/ In the cellars of the sea/ And disappear in them/ Never to be seen again". Like what exactly is an ocean's cellar? This might be a very naïve question, I love artists with random lyrics. I am not sure though, because in "Black Burning Heart" the above phrase is followed by verses like "If we could turn back/ You can paper over the crack/ But it will return now/ And your heart will burn black" and so the song goes back to making sense in accordance with the title, but loses it's meaning as an entity. (There is also a strophe read in French in "Black Burning Heart", which is probably the major reason why I don't like this song. It tries to be something that it's not, and the biggest problem with that is that it is trying to be something it shouldn't want to be! If that makes any sense to you. It strives for something that is undesirable. Right? They have proved that they can give their songs perfect and wonderful sense in English. Well instead of going completely spastic over something as insignificant as mere 16 French words in track 10, I'll move on.)
Like stated, Keane have accomplished to record another great album that I already love a lot. It is not their best so far, it is nothing FANTASTICALLY BRILLIANT when it is compared to other bands I suppose. But for being Keane this was very daring of them. They have played a lot with the different spectres of sound and polished them (if you listen carefully there are like a gazillion different sounds that build up quite basic melodies) so that it isn't noisy. Well perhaps except from in "Playing Around" which keeps hollering "Turn up the volume!" but that never quite kicks off, so you don't want to turn the volume up at all. Obviously, I can't finish this review without mentioning the amazing vocals of Tom Chaplin. He has an amazing voice.
Compared to "Under The Iron Sea" - "Perfect Symmetry" doesn't have a significant wholeness about it. You don't necessarily need the entire album to understand how wonderful it is, but listening to it over and over makes it grow on you eventually.
Like Keane always does.
I loved it, thank you!
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