Keane

Under the Iron Sea, Keane’s follow-up to its hugely successfully 2004 debut Hopes and Fears, finds one of the U.K.’s hottest exports going into deeper, darker territory, with magnificent, majestic results. The guitar-less, keyboard-based trio from East Sussex conjures up melancholic and sinisterly beautiful stadium-rock on an album that is at once edgier and diverse than their Hopes and Fears. That record vaulted the band to the top of the UK charts with singles like “Everybody’s Changing” and “Somewhere Only We Know”, and went multi-platinum at home. Opening shows for U2, Keane also proved itself in the U.S., where Hopes and Fears went gold. Recorded in the midst of internal friction, Under the Iron Sea benefits from the members’ friction with vibrant, soaring material that has already propelled the record and the single “Is It Any Wonder?” into the top spots in UK charts. Stronger and more determined than ever, Keane is crossing the iron sea once more to bring its powerful, deep-reaching songs to North American ears.