![]() ![]() We offer unbeatable prices, quick shipping times and a wide selection second to none. ~ James Christopher Monger About Movie Mars All items are Brand New. ![]() Strangeland never really lives up to its mysterious title, as there's nothing on it that doesn't feel willfully nostalgic, but like any good plate of comfort food (for those with larger appetites, there's a 16-track extended version, and a 24-track CD/DVD combo) it satisfies in a way that more adventurous meals never truly can. More contemplative moments, like the lilting "Black Rain," the lovely "Neon River," and the appropriately epic closer "Sea Fog" work just as well, dialing back the cymbal swells in favor of a more measured level of melodrama. Bolstered by a pair of stadium-ready singles in "Disconnected" and "Silence by the Night," both of which occur (in classic LP fashion) early on, Strangeland works best when it sticks to the formula, providing a hook, a line, and a sinker before landing the listener with the kind of colossal chorus that results in the frantic rolling up or down of car windows. Closer in tone to 2006's Under the Iron Sea, some may find Strangeland's reliable mix of Coldplay, Snow Patrol, and "Sit Down"-era James to be a bit rote, but when it comes to crafting relatively safe, achingly melodic, and terminally sincere adult alternative rock songs, there are few groups as prodigious as the East Sussex quartet. ![]() Additional Information from Movie Mars Product Description Keane's fourth outing trades in the officious electro-pop flourishes that peppered 2008's Perfect Symmetry for a more familiar approach. But in its place Keane have crafted another accomplished, warm, and welcoming record, one whose open-hearted generosity of spirit ultimately proves hard to resist.Item: 381596482724 KEANE - STRANGELAND NEW CD. Some listeners will doubtless lament the absence of strangeness on Strangeland (a record whose oddest conceit is to relegate its title track to the album’s Deluxe Edition). The second half of the record is less impressive, but the album reaches a fine finale on the spectral “Sea Fog”, one of the sparest and most haunting moments here. And “The Starting Line” quivers and shimmers before swooning into the album’s most alluring chorus. “On the Road” is a chunky, rollicking stomp, and entirely infectious. “Sovereign Light Café” is a nostalgia-drenched paean to the band’s formative years, complete with “sha-la-las”. Yorke-aping moment aside, Chaplin’s vocals remain as distinctive, robust, and appealing as ever, and he manages to give even the most clichéd of the album’s lyrics the commanding fervor of conviction.Īfter a solid start with the chugging “Disconnected” and the elegantly textured, Ron Sexsmith-ish ballad “Watch How You Go”, the album hits its stride at the mid-point with its three most satisfying songs. ![]() That Strangeland emerges as engaging and enjoyable as it does despite all of this, is down to the sense of warmth in the band’s interplay and the inviting tone that producer Dan Grech-Marguerat sustains across the record. The musical approach is sometimes derivative too: both the opening track “You Are Young” and the first single “Silenced by the Night” wear their U2-ish leanings firmly on their sleeves, while “Black Rain” is a reverent Radiohead pastiche boasting Tom Chaplin’s very best Thom Yorke impersonation. Although serviceable in context, Tim Rice-Oxley’s lyrics are too reliant upon such generic statements of empowerment here. Those adverse to anthemic uplift would be well-advised to steer clear of Strangeland, which consistently trades in buoyant melodies and lyrical exhortations of the “have faith in brighter days” and “we’re gonna rise again” variety. Heralded by the exhilarating whoops and “woohs” of its first single “Spiralling”, Perfect Symmetry drew – for the most part dynamically - on ’80s synth-pop, adding some fresh textures and an exciting sense of experimentation to the band’s material, sometimes dismissed as worthy-but-dull indie pop/rock in the Coldplay mould.įrom this perspective, the band’s new release Strangeland might seem like a backwards step, since it very much returns the group to the mode of chiming, mid-tempo piano rock established on Hopes and Fears (2004) and Under the Iron Sea (2006). A stylistic step sideways was taken by Keane on 2008’s Perfect Symmetry, their last full-length album. ![]()
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