KEANE

Under The Iron Sea is 10 – win a signed copy! 16 June 2016

 Hello! This week, Keane’s second album, Under The Iron Sea, celebrates its tenth birthday. We’d love you to share your memories of the album on Twitter and Facebook, using the hashtag #UTIS10. We’ll share your thoughts over on the official site and our favourite two will win a signed copy of the album!

We asked Tim for his memories of the album – which you can read below:

A lot of Under The Iron Sea was written in the back of a tour bus while we were touring Hopes and Fears. It was a struggle writing it, and even more of a struggle recording it! The main thing I notice when I listen to it now is how intense it is – both emotionally and sonically. It’s like a gigantic churning mass of thoughts and feelings and themes. I think that’s why the image of the dark sea above us seemed to sum it all up so well.

All of us in the band name this as our favourite Keane album. We’re extremely proud of it. It has a tension and energy that was entirely instinctive, born of troubles in our own lives and troubles in the wider world. Love, war, anger, fear, fame, a yearning for reconciliation, confusion… it’s all in there!

Andy Green did an incredible job of producing the album, bringing the very best out of a fractious band and pulling our disparate ideas together into a story that made perfect sense of the way we were feeling about ourselves and about the world around us. Sanna Annukka created the iconic and much-imitated artwork that reflected the stories within the songs with mystery and humour. And Spike Stent’s mixing performed an amazing feat in making the many layers of shifting sound work together, giving every texture its moment and creating a soundscape that was dark and magical.

I have many precious memories associated with making UTIS. The drums on Atlantic…hearing Is It Any Wonder? after a break of a couple of weeks, with a distorted piano riff I couldn’t even remember playing… staying in New York, recording by day and supporting U2 at Madison Square Garden by night… finishing the lyrics of The Frog Prince somewhere in rural France… dinnertime at Heliocentric listening to Eels and Kate Bush. And of course the album led us to more amazing adventure once it was released.

Tim

In other Keane-related news, Tom has recently finished his first solo album, which will be coming soon. Check out his BlogTwitter and Facebook for all the latest news on that. . 

Meanwhile, Tim and Jesse’s Mt Desolation project is back, and in the studio working on a second album. Head over to their Facebook page for updates. 

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