Keane - Perfect Symmetry

Perfect Symmetry (2008, Island) Keane's third studio album. ***

Radical departures are usually a curse. But when you're a band that doesn't have much to lose (beyond your fanbase), there isn't much harm in trying. Train hasn't learned this lesson, and the Killers did the hard way; they sacrificed undeserved critical praise to get more airtime on MTV with Sam's Town. Keane, however, couldn't make another pseudo-meaningful album without everyone going "You're gayer than Coldplay." So what did they do? Take a trip back to the 80's.

The band comes bursting in with the opener "Spiralling," a whirlwind of energy wrapped neatly into a potential radio-friendly single. It's a fog of synths, interlooping and loud, with Tom Chaplin's vocals soaring above it all. It's this kind of energy that is hard to attain in earnest, and even harder to maintain. That's where Keane fails. Perfect Symmetry certainly has fine moments, but its relentlessness in trying to keep an eleven-track album bursting and bubbling with new wave excitement is too tiring, even for the band themselves. The middle of the album sags when mediocre songs like "Playing Along" come up. An "A" for the effort, but the transformation didn't completely pay off. But as I always say, I salute Keane for trying something new.