Music to while away the time before the next Coldplay--or Travis, or Starsailor, or Muse--album arrives. [11 Jun 2004, p.125]
Hopes and Fears contains more hooks than most pop groups manage in their careers.
This album is full of ballads fuelled by feelings of alienation, but Chaplin's voice is consistently powerful and lacks the fragility that would give these songs the edge the band obviously thinks they have.
Keane rely too heavily on Chaplin's show-stopping vocals, and the radio-friendly simplicity of the lyrics grates.
Coldplaya-hatas will loathe Keane; most others will just be insulted.
