#27: Perfect Symmetry

Perfect Symmetry

Keane

2008

Island Records (UK)

Cherrytree Records (US)

Peak position on the charts:

#1 - UK Albums Chart

#7 - US Billboard 200

Back in 1997, in the early years of the band known at the time as The Lotus Eaters, Keane pianist/keyboardist Tim Rice-Oxley was approached by a then-unknown Chris Martin after a gig in Virginia Water, Surrey. Impressed by his piano playing, Martin wanted Rice-Oxley to join the newly formed band Coldplay as their keyboardist. Rice-Oxley declined, citing allegiance to The Lotus Eaters, a band he and schoolmate Dominic Scott co-founded two years earlier. Initially, the decision must have haunted Rice-Oxley to no end; in the next fiver years, Coldplay produced two #1 hits on the UK Albums Chart (both of which have gone SEPTUPLE platinum to date), while Keane had yet to compile a single album.

But Keane would eventually hit it big in 2004 with their debut album Hopes and Fears, an album that ranks higher on this list and will be discussed further then.

Perfect Symmetry is Keane's third studio album, as well as their third #1 on the UK Albums Chart. Their gradual transformation from piano rock at its purest to an all-out electronic attack complete, Keane's employment of electric guitars for the first time fulfilled that one missing element from Under the Iron Sea: an added energy. Rice-Oxley acknowledged the fact himself:

"One of the things I loved about Perfect Symmetry was songs like

'Spiralling' that had a massive amount of energy."

Indeed, with a backdrop inspired by '80s synth rock, Perfect Symmetry offers a much punchier Keane than their prior two outings while maintaing the same structure and lyrical style that established their fanbase. Tom Chaplin's powerful vocals have never wavered and remain as meaningful (and not to mention as catchy) as ever, but with a new backing, they are given a new role. As opposed to Chaplin's vocals taking centre stage, as was so signature of Hopes and Fears and was still present with Under the Iron Sea, Perfect Symmetry epitomises Keane's full transition into a band. (They recruited a fourth man for the band, Jesse Quin, in 2008 to play rhythm and bass, somewhat metaphorically.) The vocals and music trade the spotlight throughout the album, and both share the forefront during refrains, creating the intensity and energy that was seemingly absent beforehand.

Keane's popularity will never be in question; if every album they ever created had the same sound as Hopes and Fears, they would still remain one of Britain's most famous modern bands. But Perfect Symmetry really established the band's position as the greats of the past ten or so years and fully defined the style that Keane had come to master: wonderfully catchy keyboard riffs and substancial, grandiose vocals.

Below is an embedded link to "The Lovers Are Losing", as well as a list of recommended songs.

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Recommended Tracks:

Spiralling (4.19)

The Lovers Are Losing (5.04)

Perfect Symmetry (5.12)

Black Burning Heart (5.23)