Perfect Symmetry (Keane album)

Background

Perfect Symmetry is a departure from Keane's established piano-rock sound, with the band employing guitars for the first time since their early musical beginnings and a larger reliance on synthesizers than their previous effort Under the Iron Sea, as well as experimenting with other instruments such as the musical saw, saxophone and string arrangements. Also most notable is the emergence of a 1980s' synthpop-influenced style on most songs such as "Spiralling" and "Again and Again". The album is the result of a more relaxed and creative recording process in comparison to the tense sessions for Under the Iron Sea. One of the only piano-driven songs on the album is the track of the same name. Jesse Quin joined Keane from this album as a studio and live support member. He became an official member three years later.

Cover

The cover for the album was revealed on 5 September. Tim Rice-Oxley explained that the imagery of the band are photographs of bigger than life-size sculptures of the band members, made by Korean artist Osang Gwon. It was implied that these sculptures will form the basis of the album's image and promotion up to the date of release.

Track listing

All tracks written by Keane.

(^) denotes additional production
(*) denotes co-producer

Bonus DVD

1. Making of Perfect Symmetry documentary
2. Track by track commentary
3. "Spiralling" (Live Rehearsal)
4. "Spiralling" (Demo)
5. "The Lovers Are Losing" (Demo)
6. "Better Than This" (Demo)
7. "You Haven't Told Me Anything" (Demo)
8. "Perfect Symmetry" (Demo)
9. "You Don't See Me" (Demo)
10. "Again and Again" (Demo)
11. "Playing Along" (Demo)
12. "Pretend That You're Alone" (Demo)
13. "Black Burning Heart" (Demo)
14. "Love Is the End" (Demo)

Singles

The first full single from the album was "The Lovers Are Losing", released on 20 October 2008. The next single was "Perfect Symmetry", released on 29 December 2008. In March 2009, "Better Than This" was released as the fourth single.

Themes

"Spiralling" is a song performed and composed by English band Keane, released on 4 August 2008 at 10:59 (CEST) as the first single of their third album, Perfect Symmetry. It was released in a similar fashion to that of "Atlantic" as a digital download only single; however, it was available as a free download from Keanemusic.com for the first week of release. On 31 July, the message "When we fall in love, we're just falling in love with ourselves" appeared on the band's website in reference to the track. On 11 August 2008, the song was released as an official digital download on iTunes. The song was said to be inspired by wrestling legend Ric Flair who Tom Chaplin described as a personal hero for his try hard mentality in the ring. His trademark "woo" inspired the song. Frontman Tom Chaplin described the song as "a train of thought about human endeavour, built on an outrageous groove".

"The Lovers Are Losing" is a song performed and composed by English rock band Keane, released on 20 October 2008 as the second single from their third album, Perfect Symmetry. It was played for first the time on Hit40uk on 24 August 2008.

The album's eleventh song "Love Is The End" was featured on the 18th episode from the sixth season of the series One Tree Hill.

Perfect Symmetry World Tour

The Perfect Symmetry World Tour started 29 September 2008 and finished 29 October 2009, with 121 shows. During the Perfect Symmetry album release week, the band did some free shows in the UK.