The Wave by Tom Chaplin
"The Wave" is the debut studio album by English singer-songwriter Tom Chaplin. The album was released on 14 October 2016 by Island Records. It is Chaplin's first solo album since Keane announced their hiatus in 2013. "Quicksand" was released as the first single from the album, on 26 August 2016. Chaplin began using drugs due to anxiety over the album and "thought he was going to die" in early 2015: "When I finally liberated myself from years of spiraling addiction, a place of inspiration and creativity became available to me. I set about writing an album that documents my transition from the darkest recesses of human experience to a place of resolution, fulfillment and happiness. At long last I am comfortable in my own skin and have achieved that elusive dream of writing a set of songs I can truly call my own." A Deluxe version features five bonus tracks.
Tom Chaplin knows his way around a bombastic pop song. Recorded while Keane lay dormant, their frontman’s first solo album zeroes in on his strengths and amps up the emotion. “Still Waiting” is the first of several poised and poignant tracks to call on the pain of his various addiction battles (“buried in the rubbles, there’s a boy in trouble”, it begins), while “Quicksand” (written with the album’s producer Matt ‘Aqualung’ Hales) surrounds Chaplin’s towering vocal with a giddy orchestral arrangement.
