Keane - Hopes and Fears
Label: Interscope
Style: Brit Rock, Alternative
Released: 2004
My Grade: 2.5 stars
AMG: 4
Sounds like: Coldplay, Travis, Snow Patrol

I had a bad feeling about this band the moment I heard their infectious lovesick song "Somewhere Only We Know" - so I resisted buying the album; I finally broke down and admitted that I liked the simple beauty they seemed to play, and I went out to spend my $13.95 for their album...my bad feelings pushed into the recesses of my brain.

From the instant that I popped the album into my car for the drive home, I knew I would be hooked - it was an instant liking, and that is something I don't trust at all. Their music was great, the lyrics sounded beautiful - songs about a lovelorn boy who has struggled to be with the girl he loves - and yet something sounded off; The production was fresh, the melodies simple and his vocal delivery was crisp, the entire album sounded almost perfect...perhaps too perfect.

I wanted to like this album, and I actually do enjoy it - but I cannot give a good rating to a band that I am sure will join the processed ranks of The Stills, The Strokes, The Killers and so many other bands on mainstream radio that act as an alternative to the indie circuit. Don't get me wrong, I own albums by all of those mentioned, but the slight bad feelings that came with each persisted, until I realized that they sounded too perfect, bordering themselves on being manufactured. I am sure these are sincere artists with sincere goals, but at the same time Justin Timberlake and Avril Lavigne consider themselves sincere artists with sincere goals, and I still cannot listen to any of them.

So Keane will join the new ranks of manufactured pop, a different face on an old problem. If you can justify listening to them, then by all means, don't let me stop you - but I cannot listen to music like this when I know there is so much more out there.

Reviewed by: Samuel Aaron