Review Summary: Welcome back Ke – oh, actually, you know what – nevermind, now’s not a good time.
On the strength of
Hopes & Fears and
Under The Iron Sea, Keane deserves a mention as one of the most prominent pop-rock bands of the mid-2000’s. Essentially filling the role of a more creative Coldplay, the band gathered steam with its intoxicating combination of piano-synth atmospheres and soaring vocal melodies. Their reputation remains bolstered to this day by cornerstone hits such as ‘Somewhere Only We Know’ and ‘A Bad Dream’, keeping the name Keane relevant in the households of 30-to-40-somethings holding out for another hit of equal caliber. This misplaced faith is where
Cause and Effect will make most of its money, because it certainly doesn’t bring anything noteworthy of its own to the table.
Cause and Effect is a bland reunion album as they’ve come to be defined: it’s little more than a new slate of songs that Keane will inevitably ignore during live shows in favor of dusting off their greatest hits. Tom Chaplin’s aggressive disregard for high notes is one of the most immediately noticeable and frustrating aspects of the record; the falsetto he used to wield in the group’s heyday has been replaced by weary croons. That lower register may come with age, but considering that as recently as 2012 – when he belted out the insanely infectious chorus to ‘Disconnected’ – it becomes difficult to see
Cause and Effect as anything other than totally lacking passion, energy, or quite frankly any reason to care. Even when the band threatens to intrigue, Chaplin reins in any burgeoning energy with his lifeless delivery and deficit of hooks. It’s a real drain on what could have otherwise been a respectable pop outing.
From an instrumental standpoint, Keane doesn’t strain any brain cells while laying down Chaplin’s musical canvas. The band trots out a slew of shimmering piano lines and loops them over wavy synthesizers, an approach they’ve yet to depart from save for the dreadful, hip-hop inspired
Night Train EP. Sure, it presents us with a fairly palatable backdrop at all times, but it’s miles away from the adventurous, dreamy sound that scored
Under the Iron Sea. The overly safe approach to songwriting – doubled with Chaplin’s sudden fatigue – leave us with a glorified variation of The Script. There’s some money to be made there, especially in commercials, but the respect they’ll lose among their remaining fanbase is sure to be directly proportional.
Keane has always straddled the line between contemporary “adult pop” and something
indie-er, but
Cause and Effect basically foregoes the latter. Longtime fans know that this is nothing new, and will point to the 80s-infused
Perfect Symmetry as the beginning of the end, but 2012’s
Strangeland offered just enough of a rebound to give hope to the future of the band. Had they left off with
Perfect Symmetry, I doubt there would exist any buzz – however small – around Keane’s return, but thanks to
Strangeland and hits like ‘Disconnected’, some middle-aged folks will still reach for
Cause and Effect. Unfortunately, it’s little more than a bland exercise in pop that the band needs in order to sell records and tour again. You and I, however, do not require anything that this album has to offer.
