Top 10 Keane

1. Leaving So Soon? - Under the Iron Sea - I don't think this is my favorite Keane song of all time, but it energized and motivated me to create this list and it's a fabulous reminder of why I enjoy Keane so much: soaring pop-rock vocals, catchy melodies and creative instrumentation. And the giant inhale at the start is perfect.
2. This is the Last Time - Hopes and Fears - This is an altogether great album, but this song remains one of my all time favorites. I really like the beat the piano establishes from the beginning and then it's amplified by the drums and bass.
3. Your Eyes Open - Hopes and Fears - This song has a good groove, probably because of the bass part throughout. It's nice it doesn't drown out the piano though - they do a great job of balancing the instruments. I like the spacey bit around 2:20, which is definitely typical of Keane.
4. Time to Go - Perfect Symmetry - After many, many listens of the band's latest album, Perfect Symmetry, this song may be my favorite - and I really do like the whole CD. Oddly, this song is sort of the misfit on the album because it's the only acoustic song (just guitar, piano and vocals) and it's also one of the most straightforward, in terms of melody and form. In my opinion, it's also one of the most beautiful. Tom Chaplin really can sing.
5. We Might As Well Be Strangers - Hopes and Fears - Let lead vocalist Tom Chaplin turn an otherwise normal ballad into a wild, dramatic performance. It's nice when a rock band exhibits dynamics.
6. Spiralling - Perfect Symmetry - Wonderfully unique, bizarre and catchy, all at the same time. Love, politics, religion, rhetorical questions and a spacey bridge around 3:00. That about sums it up.
7. The Way You Want It - The Way You Want It Single - Great songwriting. Just piano. Different sound from the rest of their more electronic stuff.
8. Nothing in My Way - Under the Iron Sea - Love the chorus.
9. Snowed Under - Somewhere Only We Know EP - "You know sometimes I feel like I'm getting snowed under with the things you say, when I open my eyes and it's a lovely day"
10. Somewhere Only We Know - Hopes and Fears - Maybe a little cheesy and definitely overplayed on the radio for a while (think: the summer of 2004) but a classic nonetheless (along the lines of Coldplay's "The Scientist" or "In My Place"). This was the song that got me hooked on the band.

Snowed Under - Keane


Spiralling - Keane