How do you follow up an album that launched you into the pop aristocracy at the first time of asking? In Keane's case, you combine the commercial sheen of your debut with an admirable urge to push your things forward.
At the very least, we're discovering Keane aren't content to just churn out a "Hopes and Fears" mark II. Lyrically there's been progression: although the emotional frailty of their debut is still here, there's a definite sense of an album informed by the world around it, with a paranoid, apocalyptic cloud hanging heavy.
The wonderful "A Bad Dream" combines the dreamy electronica of Air's "La Femme D'argent" with the anthemic quality of classic Coldplay, and "Broken Toy" is a disjointed ghostly effort that surprises as much as it pleases.
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