Keane present new indie-emo offering
Warm, sweet and tingly, Keane’s fifth single lives up to all the dreamy expectations that have been assumed since the band’s chart topping success with “Somewhere Only We Know”, in February 2004. "This Is The Last Time", is the kind of song you could relax, write an essay or watch TV to, until you listen to the fragile lyrics, at which point you'd feel rather like you were hanging a Picasso in your toilet; some works of arts just demand attention paid to their details.
Like a stunning landscape, crisp percussion and sharp, melodic piano lie beneath the intimate skyward and tender vocals of Tom Chaplin. Somewhere Chaplin makes his emotion-laden vocals seem effortless; arguably the word soaring was invented for birds, and voices such as Chaplin’s.
The lack of guitars is hardly noticeable, with rich layers of sensitive piano, warm percussion and underlying bass, not so much covering up the lack of guitars, but making them unnecessary. The lyrics are as ever, thoughtful, verging on pretentious and somewhat selfless: “You fall on me for anything/ And yes, make everything right/ You fall on me for anything you like/ And I know I don’t mind.”
With all their recent chart success, I was unsure to what extent this single would resemble their others; too closely, I doubted. However having listened to it several times I find myself somewhat drawn to the warmth and although the style is somewhat samey in respect to their other singles, they remain unique. To this extent, you could say that I’ve become keen on Keane.