Strangeland (Album)
Occupation
Tom Chaplin Tim Rice -Oxley Richard David Hughes
Strangeland ( German Foreign Land ) is the fourth studio album by the English band Keane and was released on May 4, 2012. In the UK and Ireland, managed the album still in the first week at the top of the charts, while in Germany the fifth place could be achieved.
Background information
After Keane had published in 2010 with their first EP Night Train, still first compositions for a new studio album came in the same year. Since the last one, more experimental album Perfect Symmetry did not produce the desired results, the band decided to musically back to the familiar sounds of the first two albums to tie. This one wanted to loud pianist Tim Rice -Oxley less the production of the title devote more time to invest in the songwriting. From May 2011, Keane worked together with the English producer Dan Grech - Marguerat of new titles, they grossed Lyndhurst Hall in Sea Fog Studios, RAK Studios and the AIR until early 2012. The bassist Jesse Quin, which provides supported the band since 2008, 2011 was officially the fourth member of the band and thus was also involved in the recording.
Musically, the album is based on the British Piano-Pop/Rock. Although singer Tom Chaplin is accompanied in some songs with the guitar, Tim Rice - Oxley's semi- acoustic pianos, Yamaha CP80 is again the dominant instrument. Similar to their second album Under The Iron Sea different effects devices such as distortion and flanger were combined so as to produce the typical for the band's sound. However, the overall sound changed compared to the previous albums, which is due to the collaboration with producer Grech Marguerat. Good examples of this are songs like Silenced by the Night or You Are Young. In the title Black Rain also sounds are incorporated which originate from Asia. According to Rice-Oxley of the title was inspired by the anti-war film Waltz With Bashir and is symbolic of the entire album, with the band tried the things around them to understand from a very human perspective. In an interview with NME Magazine Tim Rice -Oxley compares the album with an adventure, in which the objective is to discover new and unexpected.
The photo for the album cover is by Alex Lake and shows a shingle beach in front of a blue horizon. After Keane for Under the Iron Sea and Perfect Symmetry each had created new fonts, use them again Chochin LT, those font, which was also used for the first album. Besides the standard version, a deluxe edition of the album, the four additional songs, videos, appeared with includes live recordings and other background material. The Strange Country Tour began on March 9, 2012 and is expected on 8 December 2012 with the UR1 Festival in Miami.
Reviews
The album got good reviews on average. For most critics, the focus was that Keane with Strangeland found back to its former strength and at the same time could identify new sites. So it says in CDStarts: "Everything as always composed entirely themselves, they wanted to ( Keane ) present along with producer Dan Grech - Marguerat ( The Kooks, Hurts ) ' Back to the roots ', so Pianopop the best quality variety. Will that be successful? Yes, because what Keane submit, is pop music that touches and entertains, which is a particularly good combination. If so by listening to the tracks, which you should definitely do more often, there is no doubt that Keane again hold her mercilessly high level and have created twelve remarkable pop gems. " The Rolling Stone Magazine describes is very similar: " The beginning of the day dominant piano was pushed back to the front of the stage [ ... ], enthroned above - that knows the Keane -east course - chain busting melodies and euphoric choruses. The fourth album beats its predecessors- and Keane assert itself once more as ' the thinking man 's Coldplay. "
Title list
Standard Version ( 2012)
Bonus DVD
Videos
Other extras