Track Listing
1. Atlantic
2. Is It Any Wonder
3. Nothing In My Way
4. Leaving So Soon
5. Bad Dream
6. Hamburg Song
7. Put It Behind You
8. Iron Sea
9. Crystal Ball
10. Try Again
11. Broken Toy
12. Frog Prince
1. Under The Iron Sea (making of the album/documentary - DVD)
2. Is It Any Wonder (making of the video/documentary - DVD)
3. Atlantic (video/DVD)
4. Is It Any Wonder (video/DVD)
5. Under The Iron Sea (work in progress/DVD)
| Details | | Number of CDs: | 1 | | Producer: | Andy Green, Keane | | Recording Type: | Studio | | Distributor: | Universal Music | | Recording Mode: | Stereo |
Album Notes
Keane: Tom Chaplin (vocals); Tim Rice-Oxley (piano, bass guitar, background vocals); Richard Hughes (drums).Having won both critical and commercial acclaim for their debut album, HOPES AND FEARS, British band Keane pushes the hook-infested keyboard-rock on their sophomore effort in a darker, moodier direction. But UNDER THE IRON SEA features an intense, romantic brand of melancholy, with the trio of Tom Chaplin, Richard Hughes, and Tim Rice-Oxley vamping their way through vaulting rock melodies and power ballads, all without the aid of a single guitar.There are plenty of deliciously chewy guitar-like sounds, though, that Keane achieves by feeding electric pianos and synthesizers through various effects pedals and studio gear. The album begins with the gloomy pop gem "Atlantic," in which Chaplin broods over layers of swelling synths and insistent drum work before the song resolves into a clearing of pure melody. The song showcases Chaplin's soaring vocals, which are at points as tortured as Thom Yorke's and at others smoothly reminiscent of Freddie Mercury. On "Is It Any Wonder" the verses strut along anxiously until a barely-in-control keyboard riff winds the song up into its gleeful chorus. Filled with moving, melodic rock, Keane's solid second effort points to further sonic expansions to come.
Editorial Reviews
3 stars out of 5 -- [With] bigger doses of atmospheric keyboard...it offers some of the same tuneful pleasures of the debut, with big-voiced Tom Chaplin digging into his big bag of swooping choruses.Spin (p.90) - 3 stars out of 5 -- [With] lovely, piano-driven sounds....UNDER THE IRON SEA boasts an embarrassment of melodic riches...Entertainment Weekly (p.69) - UNDER THE IRON SEA coats the group's typically hand-wringing lyrics with layers of symphonic embellishment. -- Grade: A-Q (p.108) - 4 stars out of 5 -- The lyrics may be downbeat, but musically there's all sorts of festival-friendly, stomach-clenching brightness...Mojo (p.100) - 3 stars out of 5 -- Opening track 'Atlantic' has dark, dreamy quality they haven't displayed hitherto, 'Broken Toy' is jazzy and swoonsome...[and] 'Hamburg Song' is a gorgeously wistful ballad...
Rolling Stone
3 stars out of 5 -- [With] bigger doses of atmospheric keyboard...it offers some of the same tuneful pleasures of the debut, with big-voiced Tom Chaplin digging into his big bag of swooping choruses.Spin (p.90) - 3 stars out of 5 -- [With] lovely, piano-driven sounds....UNDER THE IRON SEA boasts an embarrassment of melodic riches...Entertainment Weekly (p.69) - UNDER THE IRON SEA coats the group's typically hand-wringing lyrics with layers of symphonic embellishment. -- Grade: A-Q (p.108) - 4 stars out of 5 -- The lyrics may be downbeat, but musically there's all sorts of festival-friendly, stomach-clenching brightness...Mojo (p.100) - 3 stars out of 5 -- Opening track 'Atlantic' has dark, dreamy quality they haven't displayed hitherto, 'Broken Toy' is jazzy and swoonsome...[and] 'Hamburg Song' is a gorgeously wistful ballad...
Rolling Stone
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