Mood:  happy

Thanks to a pre-release exclusive streaming on Last.fm, Keane's third album, "Perfect Symmetry," is available for all to hear. Unfortunately, that could be a problem for album sales.

I love Keane's first two albums, "Hopes and Fears" and "Under the Iron Sea." The former was often simple in its arrangements while the latter was an expected maturation and exploration by a band that was fully in stride.

Keane is a trio from the UK that is basically keys, bass, drums. They are not as anthemic or bombastic as Coldplay, but certainly are following in that acoustic piano, tenor vocals, emo vibe. However, there's something poppier in that Brit way while sometimes being uncommercial in texture - see "Bedshaped" from "Hopes and Fears," which was still a single overseas.

Back to "Perfect Symmetry," I am surprised to find less Keane-like sounding material. I expect a continued growth from any band. And I expect there to be some experimentation and such. Still, there are songs on this new album that sound more like "Sam's Town" era The Killers, some early '80s David Bowie, and ABC.

Oh, and let me not be remiss in remarking that Tom Chaplin, the cherubic lead singer with the amazing voice, is now wielding a guitar, both in the studio and on stage. The inclusion of guitar in their music also makes them MORE like everyone else and LESS like who they previously were.

That does not mean there are not purchase-worthy tracks, however. The title track and "Black Burning Heart" are among those that leapt out from the 11 cuts on the album. Certainly a major part of the band's previous and future success is the overall songwriting consistency that comes from Tim Oxley-Rice, the chief songwriter and pianist.

"Black Burning Heart," in particular, still retains that piano-based upbeat pop-rock song with strong lyrics and vocals, but the bass line is much stronger and resonant than in other cuts, which helps it jump from my earpieces with a graceful ease.

Overall, I will probably come to fully include this album on my iPod like the others, but I can promise it will never eclipse Keane's first two releases in terms of "favorite" or "best."

UPDATE: Now that I have purchased my copy and can obsess... Here is some new insight. I really do like it. It is still not close to the previous releases. However, where I said the sound could alter sales. Nix that. After having sold 8 million copies of the first two albums, and "Spiralling" (the first single) already charting high in Europe and winning awards, this will honestly just launch them into the straosphere.

Truthfully, the new music is so vibrant, poppy, dancy, and fuller-sounding, the music can now fill the biggest arenas like never before. Keane has a great personality and stage presence, mostly from singer Tom Chaplin. They are only going to get bigger.

What I do find curious though is how distinctly unoriginal some of their new songs seem. It's new to them for sure, but when "Spiralling" could be compared in critic-ese as David Gray fronting ABC, the second single "Lovers are Losing" is 21st century Euro-pop meets 1970s disco (Brandon Flowers singing for ABBA anyone?), and the tune "Better Than This" totally seems like a rip from early '80s Bowie, then I'm not sure how adventuresome this group is.

I'm all for experimentation and musical exploration, but the overly retro-poppy thing is fun, but I'm not so sure it's what I, as a Keane fan, was hoping for or expecting.