Under the Iron Sea
Occupation
Tom Chaplin Tim Rice -Oxley Richard David Hughes
Under the Iron Sea ( German Under the Iron Sea) is the second studio album by the English band Keane and was released on 12 June 2006. In the UK the album peaked in the first week, topping the charts and came there on the 19th place of most sold albums of the year 2006. Too, in the U.S. managed Keane with this album and the breakthrough achieved in the first week of the fourth place, while it was also placed in Germany on the third position.
Background information
After the success of their debut album Hopes and Fears, the band still in 2004 went on a European tour, which was continued in North America in 2005. During this time composed pianist Tim Rice -Oxley, several new titles, of which twelve eventually found their way onto the new album. As early as 2005, long before the release, were played at a live concert at the Aragon Ballroom in Chicago as a bonus tracks Nothing In My Way, Try Again and Hamburg Song.
Musically, the album is based on the British Piano-Rock/Pop and is once again on the abstinence of guitars. The semi - acoustic electric grand piano Yamaha CP80 is for Rice-Oxley to be the dominant instrument, although it significantly changed the sound as opposed to the first album with different effects units. He usually combined a variety of distortion effects and flanger together so that the typical sound for tracks such as Crystal Ball or Nothing In My Way was born. In the song Is It Any Wonder? will also be additionally used a wah wah effect device, which can be clearly heard in the intro. It was also worked with increased disharmony and unusual chord changes, evident in titles such as Atlantic and Broken Toy. Backdrop effects of virtual analog synthesizer Clavia Nord Lead 2X has been used.
The Names of the album was inspired by a line of text Track Crystal Ball: " I've lost my heart, I buried it too deep, under the iron sea. " This album was written at a difficult time for the band stage, in particular the internal conflicts were between singer Tom Chaplin and pianist Tim Rice -Oxley during the joint tour formative for some titles. In British Q Magazine described Rice-Oxley 2007, his relationship with the title song of Hamburg, with whom he also processed the ailing friendship with Chaplin According to his statement.
Sanna Annukka, an artist from Brighton, created the cover art for the album. Their different, futuristic stencil figures were then also be seen on the covers of singles.
In addition to the standard version of the album is also a Special Edition was published in book form. In addition to the 12 tracks it contains the demo versions of the album songs and included a DVD with other backgrounds, including a short documentary about the making of the album.
Reviews
The album got good reviews on average, as many experts were of the opinion that the band maintain the quality of the debut album and could surprise with new sounds simultaneously. That's the name of sides of the Musik Express on Keane: " Your keys melodramatic pop has found the world over four million buyers and spawned half a dozen hits. The second album is on the one hand the proven cornucopia of harmony, on the other hand entails but also exciting innovations. While Tom Chaplin still sings with an easygoing Big Boy voice, Tim Rice -Oxley mutated to key sorcerer, who explores the creative horizons of the trio. Around the massive "Is It Any Wonder? " Reminiscent of " Elevation " by U2, and the almost industrial- moderate instrumental "The Iron Sea ". In the overwhelming power but are euphoric pop anthems with catchy warranty ( Nothing In My Way, Leaving So Soon, Put It Behind You ), which are full of optimism is the only way. " Kulturnews.de also appeals to the band's past: "Never sounded self-therapy so smugly as on the second album by British Shooting Stars: Twelve opulent, melodramatic pop songs about the hardships of touring life, the madness of the music business and the internal tensions of recent years. A nice experimental approach, which makes even those moments bearable in which converts the trio quite bluntly in the footsteps of U2 and Coldplay. "
Title list
Standard Version ( 2006)
Bonus DVD
Videos
Demo and live versions of the album tracks