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KEANE
RATING: 5
PLAY THESE: SOMEWHERE ONLY WE KNOW, UNTITLED 1, CAN'T STOP NOW
SKIP THESE: YOUR EYES OPEN
"Don't believe the hype." It's a well-worn phrase, to be sure, but it's the only thing that springs to mind as I sit in a bored stupor listening to Hopes and Fears, the debut album from British media darlings Keane. The British press is often guilty of over-hyping new bands, and no group has elicited more undeserved praise than this bland quartet. Many critics regard them as the second-coming of Coldplay, but to my ears they sound like a Travis tribute band - and a second-rate one at that. I just don't hear any similarities between Coldplay and Keane, except maybe the fact that both bands use pianos, usually (and still wet the bed, occasionally). Actually, to be brutally honest, I'm starting to think that they sound more like a contemporary Christian band than anything else.
Anyway, this album is a really dull listen. It's a relentlessly inoffensive record, one guaranteed to fade away into obscurity within five years time. OK, it is well-done generic British pop rock, and sounds quite professional, but it is completely devoid of any sort of energy, or any sense that the music is even alive. It's death by mid-tempo, an unfaltering succession of semi-ballad tracks, all of them aimed straight for the hearts of British university students and 30-something housewives. It's a very nice, very proper British pop rock music, but it lacks soul, or purpose. The songwriting, while competent and easy to listen to, is devoid of hooks of any sort, and just kind of floats by aimlessly. As for the best songs, I suppose that the three I picked out at the beginning of this review are decent enough, but none of them leave a lasting impression. Nothing truly stinks, but then again maybe that's part of the problem. Final verdict: "nothing ventured, nothing gained."