Under the Iron Sea by Keane
Under the Iron Sea is the second studio album by English rock band Keane, released in 2006. During its first week on sale in the UK, the album went to #1, selling 222,297 copies according to figures from the Official Chart Company. In the United States, the album came in at #4 on the Billboard 200, selling 75,000 units in its first week. Since January 22, 2006, the album had sold above 3,000,000 copies worldwide. The band describes Under the Iron Sea as a progression from Hopes and Fears with electronic influences, describing the record as a "sinister fairytale-world-gone-wrong". After the release of their debut album, Hopes and Fears, Keane embarked upon a world tour that reached virtually all Europe and North America and which culminated on October 2005. As seen on Strangers, the band had been having trouble since the middle of 2004, shortly after the release of the debut. The suggestion "Hamburg Song" is about the bad-turned relationship between singer Tom Chaplin and pianist Tim Rice-Oxley - composed circa August 2004 - develops the focus of the conflict. During the tour, Rice-Oxley kept composing new songs that would later appear in future releases such as B-sides "Let It Slide" and "Thin Air". According to Chaplin, Rice-Oxley had composed at least 50 new tracks as of April 2006. The name of the album is based on a lyric appearing on the track, "Crystal Ball" which reads "I've lost my heart, I buried it too deep, under the Iron Sea". It also shares title with the eighth track and Keane's first instrumental, "The Iron Sea". The "Iron Sea" is the metaphoric name for the group's (especially Rice-Oxley's) preoccupations about their uncertain future and the sudden fame they were having.
It’s hard to fathom that Keane is a guitar-less trio. Their drums-bass-keyboards approach is so ornate, lush, and atmospheric that their every tune turns into a pocket symphony rife with melodrama. That they could approach this grand mastery without the usual six-string culprit is a singular achievement. This East Sussex, UK trio have never met a special effect they couldn’t twist to their advantage and their second studio album, <i>Under the Iron Sea</i>, utilizes their sonic expertise to massive effect. In the tradition of early Radiohead (before they became an art project), Coldplay, and U2 (for whom they opened on tour), Keane combine this profound love for ambient atmospherics with song emphasizing fancy melodies that push singer Tom Chaplin’s voice all over the scale. The unexpected success of their debut album – two Brit awards, a Grammy nomination, actual record sales – stressed the band to the near breaking-up point and that tension, along with a deteriorating world situation, fuels the melancholic strains of “Leaving So Soon?,” “A Bad Dream” and “Hamburg Song.”
