KEANE "NIGHT TRAIN" TRACK BY TRACK ALBUM REVIEW

From arjanwrites music blog,

Keane's "Night Train" sounds like a record the British trio had to make to get some musical urges out of their system. Listening to this album, it seems that after producing some of pop's most gorgeous ballads ever, the group wanted to let loose, let their hair down and have some fun with it.

The result is a very diverse pop record that is a classy, accomplished blend of musical styles, global rhythms and exciting new soundscapes - ranging from '80s flavored electro-pop to energetic acoustic rock to their signature pop balladry. Following the excellent "Perfect Symmetry," this new effort demonstrates once again that Tom Chaplin, Tim Rice Oxley and Richard Hughes are able to keep their new music fresh and invigorated while always presenting a sound that is undeniable their own.

To be released in the U.S. on May 11, the album also includes Somali rapper K'Naan and Japanese baile funk emcee Tigarah who add a distinct global flavor to "Night Train." Pretty fitting as most of this record was written and recorded while the group was touring across the globe last year. Here a quick run-down of the album's 8 tracks that make up Keane's fourth studio album:

Your Love
A throbbing, mid-tempo '80s flavored synth-pop gem that features the rare lead vocals of Tim Rice-Oxley. At first his voice took me off guard as his style and vocal inflection is very similar to Tom Chaplin's, but his vocals are smoother, slicker. Reminiscent of A-ha's Morten Harket. Gorgeous, sparkly chorus and an epic middle eight that sent chills up my spine. Very good and a track that clearly echoes the melodic sentiments of "Hopes & Fears." This is one of my favorite tracks on "Night Train" and will certainly be a fan favorite as well.

Stop For Minute
This celebratory track features the much-anticipated collaboration with Somali rapper K'Naan. The song is unmistakable a Keane production though with its instantly catchy piano-driven melody. K'Naan duets with Tom in the verses and chorus of the song, and lays down some rhymes during the bridge towards the end of the song. "Stop For Minute" packs a powerful, positive message and has a great singalong chorus.

My Shadow
Third track on the album is a signature Keane ballad that primarily relies on Tim's pacing piano work and Tom's angelic vocals. A great reminder of why Keane is a world-class band. So beautiful. "Shine a light on me and you will see my shadow on every wall," Tom sings.

Looking Back
Fun, brassy tune with a stomping horn section. Has a bit of bossa nova flavor to it. Would not be surprised if the guys wrote this during their South American tour dates. K'Naan adds a few of his raps, which is unexpected but totally works.

Ishin Denshin (You've Got To Help Yourself)
A very joyous electro-pop cover of the Yellow Magic Orchestra song that features Japanese baile funk MC Tigarah. This song was a truly international endeavor. Tim worked on the original idea on a plane, Richard recorded the drums in D.C., Tom did his vocals in Copenhagen, Tigarah did hers in L.A. and the group finished it off on a tour bus. I must say that the result feels a little disjointed - Tigarah's vocals don't gel all that well with Tom's.

House Lights
Brief atmospheric interlude without vocals. Has a great cinematic quality to it.

Clear Skies
This song features Keane like you rarely hear them. Song starts off acoustically with handclaps, guitars and Tom's vocals, which gradually build to the chorus when drums, bass and xylophone are added. This is a really fun experimentation with different instruments that works well and continues to grow on me the more I hear it. You can hear how bands like Radiohead and Blur inspired this track.

Back In Time
The tracks opens with frantic, jagged synths much like the opening of "Is It Any Wonder" that is repeated in the chorus. "Back In Time" is how Keane does rock and roll.

RICHARD'S PICS FROM TIM'S STUDIO

From KM.com,

howdy,

had a really great day with tim and tom in tim's studio yesterday. i went there to take some photos, and ended up laying down some drum tracks on a couple of songs. was nice to use the drums i bought tim about 2 years ago, precisely for moments like this! only four mics around the kit, but it sounded great. anyway, i remembered to take some photos, and here they are. hope everyone is well, and rest-assured, we are looking forward to coming out to play over the summer.

richard

BLACK BURNING HEART (version français)

From KM.com,



American Eagle Outfitters, in partnership with Filter Magazine, has this week launched Hear To Help, an exclusive compilation CD to benefit relief and recovery efforts in Haiti. And we're pleased to report that it features an exclusive Keane track - the French version of Black Burning Heart, which the band recorded in the summer of 2008, but which has never previously been released. (It seemed an appropriate choice, as French is one of Haiti's two official laguages.)

The CD, entitled Hear to Help, is from now until March 19 in all 938 stores across the US and Canada, while supplies last. The CD is also available online at http://www.ae.com/ (they ship to 64 countries - although it does look like shipping is quite expensive: $50 to the UK, for example).

As we wanted those of you outside the US to be able to hear it, we're offering you the full song above. If you like it, then please try to give what you can (however small) to Oxfam's America's Haiti effort by clicking here and donating. Thank you very much.

For those of you buying the CD, one hundred percent of the $10 retail price will go directly to Oxfam America, an international relief and development organization that creates lasting solutions to poverty, hunger, and injustice. In Haiti, Oxfam’s efforts include providing water, latrines, plastic sheeting, cash, and relief materials to those who have gathered in temporary camps both within the city and in hard-hit outlying areas.

The exclusive compilation includes the following 18 tracks:

* Beck: “Volcano” (acoustic version)
* Snow Patrol: “You Will. You? Will. You? Will. You? Will.” (Bright Eyes cover)
* Keane: “Black Burning Heart” (version français)
* Air: “So Light Is Her Footfall” (Breakbot Remix)
* Charlotte Gainsbourg: “Dandelion”
* Julian Casablancas: “Long Island Blues”
* Black Rebel Motorcycle Club: “Am I Only” (ReMix)
* The Breeders: “We're Gonna Rise”
* Vampire Weekend: “Cousinz” (Toy Selectah Mex-More Remix)
* Noah And The Whale: “Love of An Orchestra” (Chew Fu Fix)
* Camera Obscura: “The World is Full of Strangers”
* Minus The Bear: “Broken China”
* Of Montreal: “Take Me Out” (Live Cover Of Franz Ferdinand)
* Busdriver: “Running Water”
* Surfer Blood: “Take It Easy” (Drop the Lime Remix)
* Grizzly Bear: “Boy From School”(Hot Chip cover)
* AM: "Endings Are Beginnings” (Piano Mix)

Just in case here you have the lyrics in French thanks to markeane from the OB.

Je voudrais m'immerger, disparaître à jamais
Jeter mes travers dans les profondeurs des mers
Quitter cette vie dont l'implacable appétit
Me rend vulnérable, balaie les mots sur le sable

Soufflé au vent des âges,
Un monument de nuage

Remonter le temps
Pour apaiser tes déchirures
Mais c'est trop tard maintenant,
Ton coeur n'est que brûlure.

Donne-moi ta main, échangeons notre sang
Et bâtissons demain, et vivons au présent.

Soufflé au vent des âges
Un cénotaphe de nuage

Remonter le temps,
Pour apaiser tes déchirures
Mais c'est trop tard maintenant,
Ton coeur n'est que brûlure.

J'ai perdu mon chemin,
Oublié ce que je savais,
Faux départ, chaque matin,
Mon coeur est brûlé

Je sais, tout ce que tu disais était juste,
Et je crains qu'il nous faille vivre avec ça pour toujours
Que t'aies tout balancé, ne gardant dans ta main qu'une photo du jour (?)

Je souhaiterais m'immerger dans les profondeurs des mers,
Y disparaître pour ne plus jamais être vu.

Enflammé, poursuivons cette voie que je ne reconnais pas,
Là je comprends.
J'ai perdu mon chemin,
Oublié ce que je savais,
Faux départ, chaque matin,
Mon coeur est brûlé,
Reviens.

MT. DESOLATION

Thomas J Speight is a singer and songwriter (you can check out his myspace here ). He has been charming my-space since July 2008 and regularly features highly on the my-space chart with his ability to pull at the heartstrings with his clever storytelling and his toe tapping country hits. Apparently he has been into Mt. Desolation as the pics below confirm it.

Here there some of them, of course Tim ones but if you wanna see the rest (non-Tim-pics) you can see them here.

TIM'S BOOK CLUB

From KM.com,

The Pilgrimage by Paulo Coelho

Paulo Coelho is one of those writers that intellectuals can be a bit sneery about, because he writes these very wide-eyed books about spiritual adventures and everything is always a metaphor for some kind of spiritual discovery or philosophy. And he's also quite religious in places. But I was recommended the book - by Jesse, actually - and I really enjoyed it.

It's a very interesting read. It's based on Coelho going on this journey where he wants to become part of some kind of spiritual brotherhood. The book starts with him failing his initiation test to get into this brotherhood, then in order to make up for this failure, he's sent on a pilgrimage through Spain. He and his guide, who's also in the brotherhood, have to walk hundreds of miles through the mountains, and all along the way there are these tests that he has to do. Each challenge takes up a chapter of the book. There's one where he has to pretend that he's being buried alive, so that he experiences what it's like to face your death. Then there's another where he has to pretend that everything is happening much more slowly than it is, in order that he loses the sense of time. By facing all these challenges, he's trying to attain some kind of particular spiritual purity, wisdom and power.

It's not the sort of thing I've ever read before, but I loved it. It does make you think about the way you live your own life. And I felt that I actually learned a lot from it. Coelho will have achieved something at the end of each chapter, and learned things about himself that are really fundamental and important to him on his journey. It's nice to be able to flick back through the pages and think about what did he did, what he said, and what the thought process was that he went through. And it is amazing how much you find yourself identifying with the character.

The book left me with a sense of wanting to try to apply some of those crazy adventures to my own life. We're all slaves to the same obsessions and limitations and fears and dreams and so on. There are all these common threads that link pretty much every person on the planet and a lot of them are talked about in this book. That makes it feel quite universal. So, it's really, really interesting and very inspiring. One of those books which makes you feel that you could potentially be a better person.

Tim

Click here to read the prologue of the book at Paulo Coelho's website

Tim's Book Club #1
Tim's Book Club #2
Tim's Book Club #3
Tim's Book Club #4

MT.DESOLATION

From Mt. Desolation's website,

Hello everyone,

Just stopping by to give you a little update on the progress of the album.
We spent three very fun and exciting weeks recording during January. We've got the majority of the album finished but there's still some tweaking to do and some parts to add. We've recorded a lot of it live (i.e. with everyone playing at the same time) which was a challenge but definitely very satisfying. Next month is crunch time because we're going to be finishing the recording and starting the mixing. We're looking forward to releasing the finished article into the wild. Hopefully you'll like it! There's no set date yet but watch this space. As soon as we're back in the studio we'll also be putting lots more photos and videos up. Anyway, that's enough rambling for now.

Love,

M.D.

ps Forgot to mention, there may be some gigs coming up from April onwards so keep your eyes peeled, as they may be low-key. But hopefully not off-key. Sorry, muso joke. Not funny.

TIM AND KYLIE? :S

From Kylie Minogue's twitter,

She says: Studio with Stuart Price, Fraser T Smith and Tim Rice-Oxley.....great day!!!

I say: of course every second spent with Tim Rice-Oxley is part of a great day! :)

EIGHT FACTLETS ABOUT NIGHT TRAIN

From Popjustice's website,

1. They're calling it an EP but it's got eight tracks (EIGHT TRACKS) on it and three of them could be obvious singles so let's be honest here, it's an album. Full tracklisting: 'House Lights', 'Back In Time', 'Stop For A Minute' (feat K'Naan), 'Clear Skies', 'Ishin Denshin (You've Got To Help Yourself)' (feat Tigarah), 'Your Love', 'Looking Back' (feat K'Naan), 'My Shadow'. We had a bit of a chit-chat with the band last week and put forward our 'it's clearly an album what are you talking about' opinion; Tim from the band mentioned that he agreed with something Liam Gallager recently said about the constraints of the modern music industry meaning that bands don't really get to release enough music. Keane's point regarding this EP is that the songs - recorded on the road - are so diverse that they don't really make sense as a 'proper album', but at the same time they're good enough to be released. So that is why they're calling it an EP.

2. It's an album.

3. The artwork is boring but don't let this fool you - there's some exciting stuff on 'Night Train'. Some of the songs continue in the trajectory of the last Keane album, so 'Your Love' (which has touches of 'Early Winter') is quite electrical and 'Stop For A Minute' (featuring a rap from K'Naan who manages to rhyme 'females' with 'e-mails' thus putting this song on a level with Pixie Lott's 'Cry Me Out' in that respect and that respect alone) sits well alongside something like 'Spiralling'.

4. If you fear the modern world don't worry. 'My Shadow' is a proper 'Bedshaped'-shaped Keane tearjerking piano ballad (a 'piallad', if you will). It is a lovely song about there being no need to feel alone because if you shine a light you "will see my shadow on every wall, and you will see my footprint on every floor", offering the advice that "when your back's against the wall that's when you show no fear at all" and *breaks down uncontrollably as result of massive pop blubfest*

5. 'Ishin Denshin (You've Got To Help Yourself)' sounds like the theme from a long-forgotten early-90s Saturday morning kids TV show FROM SPAIN. Except the guest vocalist, Tigarah (very listenable MySpace tuneage here), is a Japanese Baile Funk expert so that's a bit confusing. The main point here is that 'Ishin Denshin (You've Got To Help Yourself)' is on one hand amazing and on the other hand is the sort of thing that should never ever be heard by anybody at all, still less released as a single. It's not an easy song to come to terms with, but we've given it four stars out of five in our iTunes library if that's any help.

6. 'Looking Back' interpolates the Rocky theme (!) and 'Clear Skies' has a killer, 'Call The Shots'-esque chorus, while 'House Lights' is the music they came onto on their last tour (hence the name etc).

7. This isn't connected to the EP 'per se' but the Keane Website has a clip of Tom performing the Pet Shop Boys tune 'Your Funny Uncle', which is quite nice. *Breaks down uncontrollably for second time*

8. And there we have it. The new Keane ALBUM discussed in some vague waffle which while perhaps not particularly detailed or brilliantly written might lead you to be quite excited about this very good collection of tunes. 'Stop For A Minute' is the first single - Keanemusic have a behind the scenes report from the video shoot. The whole thing's out in May. THERE YOU GO.

KEANE BACK LA ROUX AT THE BRITS

From KM.com,

Hello folks - and welcome to another week! Here's a video clip from an interview which Tom and Tim filmed last week, in which they discuss the nominations for this year's Brit Awards (where Keane are up for the Best Album of 30 Years award)

KEANE FACE FEARSOME QUIZ

From ITN,

RICHARD'S PHOTOBLOG and ITN MUSIC

From KM.com,

London / Tuesday / 2138

K'Naan is in town, as you can see, and we recorded a couple of acoustic sessions with him today. I took some pics... details of when they will be online will be on km.com, so keep an eye out. in the meantime, here you go.

and a vid which you can appreciate the always lovely Mr. Rice-Oxley talking about Haiti. Check out his new hoodie *wink*

BACK TOWN!!

From KM.com,

As you'll see from the picture above, Keane were back together in London today for the first time in *ages*. The band recorded an acoustic session for The Sun's website, which is due to air in the middle of March ahead of the release of Night Train. We're told the session sounded amazing (but, hey, you could've guessed that, right?) and we'll obviously let you know the exact date when it'll be posted.

Thanks to Dave Hogan for the picture.