Why Tom’s Keane on going solo
THE decision to make music away from one of Britain’s best- loved bands was a tough one for Tom Chaplin.
The singer’s choirboy vocals have been the emotional heartbeat of Keane since the childhood friends from East Sussex scored the first of five number-one albums with their sparkling debut Hopes And Fears 12 years ago.
By the time of 2013’s Best Of Keane, however, Chaplin wanted to try something different, and the group began what they call an open- ended sabbatical. ‘I was frustrated by the album-and-world-tour routine,’ he says. ‘In Keane, we presented a nice, polite version of ourselves. I wanted to reveal more, and divulge a darker side.’
He does just that on an unflinchingly honest solo debut that examines his demons on 11 self-penned songs that see him stepping out of the shadow of Keane’s main wordsmith Tim RiceOxley, even though he has yet to develop the latter’s guile as a lyricist.
Chaplin’s soaring voice is one of the most recognisable in pop, and there are songs here to delight Keane fans: Still Waiting is florid and melodramatic and Worthless Words a superior ballad.
But his desire to broaden his palate is evident in a string of numbers that deviate from the driving, piano-and-drums template of vintage Keane. Producer Matt Hales, the Southamptonborn singer behind Aqualung’s aptly named 2002 hit single Strange And Beautiful, is a master of finely wrought musical textures, and his subtle electronic touches and orchestral flourishes give The Wave a distinctive flavour.
There are novel embellishments, too, including a gospel choir on See It So Clear, folk guitar on Solid Gold and a traditional brass band on the title track.
But the album is defined by its confessional streak. Having survived one ‘disastrous meltdown’ ten years ago when he received treatment for cocaine and alcohol addiction in The Priory, Chaplin, 37, succumbed to drugs again, around the time that Keane began their hiatus, and his sorry tale is reflected — but hardly glorified — here.
‘Most people didn’t realise I had a problem, as my drug-taking was solitary,’ he says. ‘But I ended up on three-day benders. It was only when the binges began to blur into one another that I did something about it.’
Clean again after re- entering rehab last year, he is unforgiving in his account of a wretched period now behind him.
On opening track Still Waiting, he is ‘a boy in trouble’, while the epic Hardened Heart details the impact of his behaviour on friends and family: ‘I’m flying out of control, headlong into the ground / And all the people that love me never know if I’m up, down, around.’
Tracing his recovery, the second half of the album is more buoyant, with tuneful ballad Hold On To Our Love reaffirming Chaplin’s love for his wife Natalie and Quicksand offering affectionate words to their two-year-old daughter Freya.
The rejuvenated singer is now preparing for his first solo tour. And while Keane are still officially on sabbatical, the band got together last month to release an excellent new song, Tear up This Town, for Spanish director Juan Antonio Bayona’s forthcoming film, A Monster Calls. What happens next is anyone’s guess.