Today I wish to focus on the Alternative Rock band Keane, from South Sussex in England. This band has been around for a long time, from the late 90s to the present time. They did have a four-year hiatus between the years of 2014 - 2018 caused by the usual difficulties associated with high level performers - drugs, divorce, and broken relationships. To their credit as a band, they did get back together and are touring to this day with music that is better than ever.
However, we are going to talk about the qualities and musicality that takes a good band and makes them great. The first thing you notice is intimacy and connection with the audience. It is not that Keane cannot perform in a big football arena. They prefer small settings. They also prefer piano as the primary instrument and an acoustic set up including a Cajon, hand percussion instruments, and they pad their sound with various synthesizer effects. This is all to showcase their number one showpiece, which is their lead singer, Tom Chaplin. Chaplin is not a particularly large man, nor does he have any external physical attributes that you would associate with an operatic tenor. And yet he can reach C5 easily as well as sing in the baritone range. He possesses three vocal attributes of a great singer. He has power and control of the vocal instrument, he has purity and clarity of expression, and he demonstrates great poise in the presence of his audience. Chaplin makes a personal connection with the audience with his stance and hand movements. All this is to transmit a non-singing message of welcome and even endearment in the songs. Keane’s sound is independent of other groups, as they wear their feelings on their sleeves and communicate that to the audience.
I don’t want to diminish the achievement of the other band members. They are wonderful musicians in their own right. And even though they are gifted songwriters and performers, they deliberately subordinate themselves to magnify the magnificent vocal talent of Tom Chaplin. The great dignity and respect they have for each other, even though members have had terrible issues in their lives, with both personal and family struggles, is palpable in their performances. What a team they are!
Circling back to Tom Chaplin: One of the important things for any good singer to be great is to be able to transition from any part of the vocal range to any other part of the range smoothly. Whereas most singers will strain for diction in the upper range, this is not true for Tom Chaplin. Most singers would struggle in the upper part of the range with the words “lovely day” and yet Chaplin can transition with strength and precision through his lower and upper ranges. He has exquisite control through his passagii.
In the song, “Snowed Under”, he sings passages with wide leaps with no break in the passagio and with complete control and accuracy and beauty. I’m not saying that every tenor singer should try to copy his instrument, but all should try to train their voices to express the same power, clarity and control as Tom Chaplin. So, check out Keane, regardless of your musical style preference. This is a man and a group and a sound with hints of glory in their style and performance.
Scott J Seiler @2022
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