Keane - Cause and Effect review

The Guardian 60

(Island Records)
Moving from innocence to experience, the formerly insipid indie rockers show off their emotional arsenal

Keane will for ever be synonymous with their 2004 smash Somewhere Only We Know, an almost unbearably twee rush of bucolic sentimentality that earned them a reputation as the milquetoast Coldplay. Yet as the East Sussex foursome return with their first album in seven years, it’s clear that they are no longer the paragons of nicey-niceness they once seemed. Cause and Effect sees the band complete the transition from innocence to experience, producing a collection of mid-life crisis tales that leave rather a bitter taste.