Friday, May 05, 2006

Keane

I will seldom write a blog about music. [However, I am positively dying to write about the fact that I just purchased primo-tickets to an upcoming Roger Waters concert!]
But I seldom write about such stuff.
And yet, there are few things more important to me than music.
I want to say a few things, though, about this [to me] relatively new trio, called Keane. You could say I am keen on Keane.

I knew nothing about this band until I saw them perform LIVE on Saturday Night Live a while ago. Actually about a year and a half ago now. And what I liked about them was their “LIVENESS”.
I was sort of just blandly watching the show [it is one of my favorite shows, but this particular night it was fairly listless]… but then these guys livened things up.
Often, the musical performers on that show have a certain “cannedness” going on. You’ve got to pay attention, but often it is NOT LIVE! [Unless it’s Ashlee Simpson. Then you don’t even have to pay attention to see it.]
But these three guys were just so natural looking out there, and so LIVE! They did their song “Everybody’s Changing” and a few measures into it, I knew I would have to buy them, and I did, soon afterward.

Keane consists of these three Brits.
Tom Chaplin [vocals, keyboard]; Tim Rice-Oxley [piano, bass]; Richard Hughes [drums].
Notice? No guitars.
This makes for a really unique sound. Really, I do not know who to compare them to. Their sound is…. eclectic. Travis, Coldplay, Starsailor. They’ve been compared to all of these.
They are not heavy.
Their CD, “Hopes and Fears” has the lightness of a souffle.
But the savoury substance of a nice steak. Tasty. Nice music to play when you want to muse and ponder.
They are real.

The band took their name from a woman called Cherry Keane who looked after Tom and Tim when they were young. All of these guys went to the same school together in Kent, England. I like that kind of junk!
What can I say? They are writing great music. There are few artists I would buy, without hesitation. But I will do so when Keane’s new CD comes out on June 12th, 2006.
It will be called Under The Iron Sea.
Buy it.
You can get a taste of their stuff, here.

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1 comment:

Cipriano said...

Perhaps, at some later date, I will write about two other solo artists that I feel are too little known.
Roland Orzabal [of Tears For Fears], and Mel C [Melanie Chisholm, of The Spice Girls].
Where would we be, without great music?