Willing to put himself second in a relationship, vocalist Tom Chaplin sings, “I don’t want to be adored/Don’t want to be the first in line or make myself heard/I’d like to shine a little light … to make you feel loved” (“Hamburg Song”). On the musical love letter “Atlantic” he wants to grow old with the woman he adores. “The Frog Prince” tells a sweet fairy tale about unlikely heroes and a day when “the simple heart will be prized again” and “the gentle and mild inherit the earth,” à la Matthew 5:5. The band counsels a lonely guy stinging from a breakup on “Put It Behind You” (“Don’t care what she said/Only in your head/Time will help you out”).
Minor. “A Bad Dream” believes that men were “born to hate.” Songs flippantly ascribe power to spells, sorcery (“The Frog Prince”), magic mirrors and crystal balls (“Crystal Ball”). Dismissing someone who has disrespected him, Chaplin feels justified for wanting to slap that person in the face on “Leaving So Soon?”
With U2-esque tracks like “Is It Any Wonder,” it’s no wonder Keane played U2’s Vertigo tour last summer. Pretty neutral stuff from a British trio sure to attract young fans of Coldplay’s ethereal rock.
