As first news about the second Keane album were surfacing all along the last months we thought it
would be a good idea to have a place with the current status and to keep track of the process...

order at Amazon.co.uk
order at HMV.co.uk
order at Amazon.de

Album title
  Under The Iron Sea
Release dates
 

12-Jun-2006
20-Jun-2006 (USA & Canada)

Tracks
  12
Tracklisting
 

01. Atlantic -- lyrics
02. Is It Any Wonder? -- lyrics
03. Nothing In My Way -- lyrics
04. Leaving So Soon?
05. A Bad Dream
06. Hamburg Song -- lyrics
07. Put It Behind You
08. The Iron Sea -- lyrics
09. Crystal Ball
10. Try Again -- lyrics
11. Broken Toy
12. The Frog Prince

Singles
 

Atlantic -- video download single
Is It Any Wonder? -- 29-May-2006
Crystal Ball -- 21-Aug-2006

Produced by
  Andy Green
Recorded in
  April-Dec 2005
Recorded at
  Helioscentric Studios/Rye
Magic Shop Studio/New York (October 2005)
Mixed
  around 19-Jan-2006 by Spike Stent at Olympic Studios
Record label
  Island/Universal/Interscope.

K.at reviews - 1 cd, 8 ears!

Press reviews:
Arjanwrites.com, Associated Press, CDTimes.co.uk, contactmusic.com, Daily Mail, Daily Telegraph, The Irish Times, Guardian, Mail on Sunday, Metro, Observer, Q Magazine, Rolling Stone, Scotsman, Sydney Herald, The Sunday Times, The Times,



The road to the second album...

06-Jul-2006
Crystal Ball will be the next single from UTIS, the release date is 21-Aug, b-sides are "Maybe I Can Change"
and "The Iron Sea (Magic Shop Version)"
and the artwork is by Sanna Annukka and looks like this:

 

13-Jun-2006
Sebastian Solis sent us the following interesting piece of information...
There is a shot on UTIS DVD where you can see the names of new songs, most of them didn't make it on UTIS:

05-May-2006
We got our hands on promo CDs of Under The Iron Sea and wrote special Keane.at reviews: go here to read our in-depth analysis about album number 2.

28-Apr-2006
You'll find an interview with Sanna Annukka, the artist behind the new cover artwork, at Keanemusic.com.

The new Is It Any Wonder? video premiered on Channel 4 tonight at 11.30 pm (GMT). The video was directed by Kevin Godley, mainly known for his work for U2, and leaked on NME.com yesterday for a few hours.

24-Apr-2006
Play.com and CDWow.co.uk list a bonus edition of UTIS with a bonus DVD... no further details however so far.

20-Apr-2006
The IIAW cover artwork is here, in two different version (cd/7"):

17-Apr-2006
NME.com features an article about the Irvine Welsh/Keane collaboration for the Atlantic download-only video. The article also includes a picture of the band with the writer.
The video will be aired exclusively on Channel 4 on 21-Apr, 11:30 pm and will then be availabe for download through the 3 Mobile network and from 25-Apr onwards through iTunes .

14-Apr-2006
The Under The Iron Sea cover artwork is here and we think it looks great!
The official message from Keanemusic.com:

"The artwork for Under The Iron Sea has been finalised last night, just a few hours ago and we are proud to present it to you!
So feast your eyes on the new cover design of the upcoming Keane album, Under The Iron Sea!
About the cover:
Keane collaborated with Finnish artist Sanna Annukka, whose work they had admired for some time, to create the artwork for the album cover. Influenced by Finnish folk art, Sanna's block-style prints perfectly capture the sinister, allegorical mood of Under The Iron Sea. In fold-out booklet form, this image will be the first part of a much bigger fairytale landscape, full of images which obliquely reflect the themes of the songs."

Also the logo and font have been changed. We found two further pieces on the web made by Sanna...

09-Apr-2006
The Mail on Sunday website picks up the Irvine Welsh video story and reveals some more information and quotes from the band:
Keane don't appear in the video, which was shot on a remote beach in Sussex. And the promo for the experimental track, which opens their new album, is bleak to say the least.
Tim said: "It's about a guy who is walking along the beach trying to find the error of his ways. It's a pretty weird piece and we all end up dead in it."
Welsh's shocking video will be given an exclusive first screening on Channel 4 on April 28.

Richard:
"We also wanted tomove on from the songs on Hopes And Fears. It sounds as if there are lots of guitars on the record but it's all played by Tim."

New single Is It Any Wonder? has a heavy guitar sound and is a real departure in style for the band.
Tim said: "When we were in America I bought a lot of old effects pedals to try out in the studio.
"It was great experimenting with different sounds. I was looking for a bit of Jimi Hendrix vibe on the track.
"But there are no guitars on the song, it's all done through my keyboards."

06-Apr-2006 - Keane premiered four new songs at a secret London showcase yesterday:
Is It Any Wonder?, Nothing in My Way, Atlantic, Crystall Ball

You'll find reviews of the secret gig on NME.com, Playlouder.com, 6music and Planet Sound teletext.
The Playlouder.com also states that trainspotting author Irvine Welsh will direct the upcoming video.

02-Apr-2006
A first review of UTIS has vanished at Popjustice.com. The review describes the album as:

...and also features an interesting picture of the promo package.
The "undercover name" of the album seems to be "Hairy Sheep".

Further an article on NME.com features the following Tim quotes:
"Using guitars wasn't ruled out, because Tom's quite good at the guitar. We were definitely envisaging the possibility of using a bit of guitar early on but we never got round to it."
"I was touring around the world and, when I was on my travels, I picked up all these vintage cassette units and all these weird gadgets," he recalled. "When we got home and got in the studio, I realised that there was this whole world of sounds that no-one had ever really explored before. People are so obsessed with guitars, but putting an electric piano into a whole chain of effects and seeing what comes out is something that, as far as I know, no-one has ever done before."
"We probably didn't ever consider becoming a guitar band again. We used to be a guitar band when we started and we've been there. The sounds on this record are really exciting and expressive of the lyrics and the music. I'm really excited about how far we can go with it."

22-Mar-2006
A non-official source that wants to be unnamed sent us a rumoured tracklisting for Under The Iron Sea:
01. Atlantic, 02. Is It Any Wonder?, 03. Nothing In My Way, 04. Leaving So Soon?, 05. A Bad Dream, 06. Hamburg Song, 07. Put It Behind You, 08. The Iron Sea, 09. Crystal Ball, 10. Try Again, 11. Broken Toy, 12. The Frog Prince

Update: The tracklisting has now also appeared on HMV.co.uk and was confirmed officially!

Nothing In Your Way was renamed as Nothing In My Way.
Let It Slide & The Night Sky (rumoured before) thus wouldn't be on the album, maybe they are possible b-sides?

21-Mar-2006
More news on Under The Iron Sea: Channel 4's Planet Sound announced that the first two UK singles will be Atlantic as a download-only single (mid-April) and Is It Any Wonder? on 29-May.
(thanks to Drinky for spotting that)

According to NME.com Atlantic will be a video download.
The article also features a quote of Nick Gatfield (Island Records Group):
"We really thought long and hard about how we would want the record to be perceived. The visual side is hugely important to the band."

20-Mar-2006
Big news today!
The album title has been revealed and officially confirmed: the second album will be called "Under The Iron Sea" and will be released on 12-Jun-2006 (except in the US and Canada where it will be released on 20-Jun-2006).
You can also find the following official, handwritten message from the band on Keanemusic.com:

07-Mar-2006
Amazon and HMV state two new release dates for the second album, instead of May they are now mentioning 05-Jun-2006 (Amazon) and 12-Jun-2006 (HMV).

22-Feb-2006
Tim and Richard gave BBC6music an exclusive interview with a new album update:
The band is working on the finishing touches of the album, Richard is quoted with:
"I think to start off with we felt a lot of pressure, but I think we reached the point where we thought actually if we keep worrying about what everyone's going to think, this is going to turn out to be a rubbish album. So we just thought, let's lock ourselves away and do whatever excites us really, makes us feel that sort of thrill of making music, and we ended up with a sort of weird rock'n'roll beast of an album." - go here for the complete article.
NME.com and Undercover.com also used this information for an article.

07-Feb-2006
Music.Yahoo.com features a little video about Keane on the occasion of their Grammy nomination - follow this direct link to watch the video.
Conclusions from the interview: the new album has been mixed at Olympic Studios by Spike Stent (Link1, Link2) around 19-Jan-2006.

03-Jan-2006
The February issue of the Q Magazine includes a little snippet about the new album:
They say: "It's claustrophobic and atmospheric. Its not what people are expecting." - Tom Chaplin
We say: 2004's debut Hopes and Fears did for Keane what parachutes did for Coldplay, turning them into the biggest new band in britian. This will be there Rush Of Blood To The Head. "Brutal" is how the trio describe new tracks Crystal Ball and The Night Sky. Chris Martin even dropped by New York's Magic Shop studio to check out the competition.
Expected: May

There are also two almost identical articles, one on Launch/Yahoo.co.uk and one on NME.com.
Thanks to both for the Keane.at reference :-)

22-Dec-2005
Richard revealed the next steps for the 2nd album during today's Ken Bruce's show on BBC Radio 2:
Keane are finishing recording the new album over Christmas ("...it's pretty much finished recording-wise...") and gonna mix it in January.
Listen to the full interview mp3 here.
(thanks to mel-d and Pixie Sheena!)

21-Dec-2005
amazon.co.uk lists the album release for an even earlier date - 01-May-2006

19-Dec-2005
The January issue of Q features an "In the studio" special about Keane, confirms spring as release period and reveals details about some songs:
Is It Any Wonder? - "Jimi Hendrix-style riff" (Tom)
Atlantic - addresses the newly-wed Rice-Oxley's fears about his relationship
Put It Behind You - looks back on Richard Hughes's messy break-up with his girlfriend
Crystal Ball - deals with the strain success puts on their friendship.

11-Dec-2005
HMV.co.uk has changed the release date to 15-May-2006.
(thanks to Jolien for spotting this!)

07-Dec-2005
HMV.co.uk lists 08-May-2006 as release date for the new Keane album!
(thanks to Wouter Bouma for sending us the link!)

03-Dec-2005
One picture of the last Alex Lake diary has an interesting background, revealing some song titles Keane are currently working on (from top to bottom):
Atlantic, Crystal Ball, The Night Sky, The Frog Prince, Nothing In Your Way, Is It Any Wonder, Bad Dream, Broken Toy, Try Again, Put It Behind You.

(Credits: Wouter Bouma wrote us about The Frog Prince being mentioned on the 'Strangers' DVD before; thanks to Summerford for recognising "Broken Toy" in the picture and to Hot Burrito for "Bad Dream")

02-Dec-2005
The next part of Alex Lake's diary reveals three new song titles: Crystal Ball, The Night Sky and Atlantic.

30-Nov-2005
Alex Lake's diary on the official website has been updated and the new entry gives some perfect impressions of the work on the second album!
Also a must because of the beautiful photos...

13-Nov-2005
Tom mentions a new song called "Put It Behind You" in an interview on the new Strangers DVD.

20-Oct-2005
Some pictures and other bit and pieces about the second album taken out of Alex Lake's tour diary ( - for the full version of the diary, see www.keanemusic.com).

Saturday 8th October 2005
The band have been playing a new song called Try Again in their shows and it was this track that they were working on today. The song is beautiful and as ever it was just really cool to be able to sit back and observe them working on it and their ideas about what instruments should come in where and so on. Andy who produced Hopes And Fears with them was there behind the desk and most of the afternoon was taken up with Tom laying down some vocal tracks while Tim listened intently to the different versions.

Monday 10th October 2005
The day was pretty much taken up with Rich recording drum parts for a couple of new songs. Tom didn't really hang around after the band had had their meeting in the morning though Tim stuck around to listen to the progression of what Rich was recording.

Tuesday 11th October 2005
Another good day in the studio. Everyone was in this morning. … Tim and Tom spent a bit of time practicing some songs on the piano while Rich and Andy listened back to some of the drum takes he'd performed the previous day. … Tim was sitting alone at the piano, bass guitar slung around his neck working out a bass line and key change to the song he was about to record parts for.
It was an odd sight to see Tim playing the bass. The song he was recording has to be the heaviest thing I've ever heard Keane perform to date. … Once everyone was happy with where the tune was at Tom started to record his vocals. Once Tom felt he'd done enough Tim went back to recording his bass line, which is pretty much how we spent the rest of the day.




Wednesday 12th October 2005
What can I tell, another day in the studio. Ed joined us to do some filming while the band worked on. Today they were recording some 'live' versions of the track Hamburg Song in that they all played together in the studio instead of recording their parts separately.

We also chatted about the direction of the follow up to Hopes And Fears and the development in the bands songwriting. We talked a lot about Try Again and how I thought that depending on the way Tom sung it in the studio his delivery made it sound either like a lament or a statement of intent. Tim spoke of how the challenge is to decide instrumentally what to leave in and what to leave out. The band are all so excited about the sound of the new songs.




Thursday 13th October 2005
Today was another nice day in the studio, again no show tonight. I arrived to find Tim already there, notebook and Dictaphone in hand. While I shook the rainwater off my camerabag he strolled into the live room to work on a couple of new song ideas. Ed arrived not long after with his video camera, followed later still by Andy, Rich and Scott.

The day was spent working on a new song. I have to say I was really impressed. Featuring a traditionally powerful Keane melody and hook this has to be the most 'musical' song I've heard so far. It had to my ears this incredibly complex drumming rhythm that Rich played with a really beautiful light touch and a bass line that again to my ears had a near menacing groove to it. I don't think I've ever heard them perform anything like it before.

Friday 14th October 2005
The day was spent inside sheltering from the rain while the guys continued the sessions for album number two. It was a pretty busy day with the band recording piano, bass, drum and vocal parts on a number of songs.

Saturday 15th October 2005.
Tim is now tinkering on a vintage Mellotron having spent the morning singing backing vocals on another new song.

On Monday we all leave. Everyone is flying home to the UK for some much needed rest before continuing the recording sessions for album number two.




12-Oct-2005
Aki sent us a little Tim update quote:
"I was listening to the 92.9 Dave FM Atlanta and Tim said a little something about the progress of recording the second album: 'We've spent some time in the studios as well already, actually, and so we've got, well, pretty much the whole entire album, I think, written and quite a lot of it recorded. And after we've done these few dates, we're going to spend two weeks in New York recording as well, which is a new experience for us, which we're looking forward to. But yeah, we're in the middle of recording and so far it sounds great and it sounds quite different from Hopes and Fears.'"

01-Oct-2005
The KCRW interview video features some interesting points about the songwriting process and sums up the current status of the process -- view the video online (the new album bit starts about 18:35).
The video also features the new songs Nothing In Your Way, Hamburg Song and Try Again.

30-Sept-2005
The NME confirms the New York studio plans:
The sessions will follow their U2 support dates and stretch over three weeks.
The short article also features a Tim statement:
"We've done bits and bobs already, but we start in earnest now. It's a bit pressure and a bit worry at the moment, but we're excited about getting stuck into it."

13-Sep-2005
The American performing rights organisation BMI lists all official Keane songs on its website.
Amongst them there are also Hamburg Song, Is It Any Wonder?, Nothing In Your Way and a new song called "Let It Slide" ...maybe an indication that these songs are planned for a release? (thanks to kristen for spotting that!)

And band photographer and desginer Alex Lake has reanimated his website TwoShortDays.com and writes:
"I will be joining Keane in NYC next month. I will be documenting the band in the studio as they work on the follow up to their debut album Hopes And Fears. In addition I will be documenting a few of the shows the band will playing with U2 @ Madison Square Gardens."

29-Aug-2005
Richard gives a short update on the second album to Interference.com:
Q: What's up next for Keane in 2005?
A: Finishing a new record—I'm typing away in the studio while Tim is recording a few new keyboards. It's fun but we don't want to release anything until we are very happy with it.

02-Aug-2005
There's an article today on BBC 6music titled Keane's dark return:
"Keyboard player and songwriter Tim Rice-Oxley told 6 Music how the rest of the new material's sounding. He said: 'We're trying to make a record that reflects who we are now as people. I think we all know it's going to be very different to Hopes & Fears. I think it's going to be a lot darker. I think it's going to be a bit rougher and a bit more sort of rock-y, so far that's what it is anyway. It'll certainly be darker. For us it's important to make a record that really excites us.
I found myself blatantly ripping off - what's that David Bowie song? Sound And Vision, from his Berlin days, the other day. There's quite an obscure Beatles song called Long, Long, Long which suddenly sparked off a load of ideas the other day. It's that sort of thing. You've just got to take it and run with it." -- full article

27-Jul-2005
Tim gives a little update about the recording in the official forum: "...recording is going extremely well so far. even better than we had hoped. we're stopping in a couple of days to do eden and the u2 dates, then we'll be straight back in the studio."

23-Jul-2005
Keane get to work on new album...as per a NME online article:
"Fresh from their T In The Park performance, Keane are set to begin work on their second album. The band said they enjoyed playing the Scottish festival, but admitted they were now itching to get into the studio."

"We start on Tuesday," Tim Rice-Oxley told NME "We've done bits and bobs already but we start in earnest now. Its a bit of pressure and a bit of a worry at the moment, but we're excited about getting stuck into it. We're going to be in a studio in the countryside, so we'll be able to step outside and enjoy the sun when we need a break from the melting pot in the studio."

18-Jun-2005
Tom speaks to MTV.com about the 2nd album:
"Tim has come up with a bunch of really exciting songs. It's the early stages, but there's definitely a sound coming together, and it's just a matter of getting it all on tape and sounding good. We definitely don't want it to sound too polished or easy, we want something more raw and funky and exciting that reflects our live show more."
"We've never made a second record, so I can't say anything definitively about which songs will make it. That's the part of the journey we still have to make." -- read the full article

NME.com also features bits of that article.

13-Jun-2005
And another forum entry from Tim:
"i think we have actually said quite a lot about how the next record is progressing. but by way of an update i can tell you that we have about fifty good songs or ideas so far. i would expect maybe seven or eight of that current crop to be exceptional enough to make it onto the finished record. which is very good going at this stage in proceedings. we all feel that the three we've been playing live are in a completely different league to anything on the first record. don't expect a re-hash of hopes and fears. the second album will be more intense and more challenging (think of it as the empire strikes back compared to star wars). that's what i want from bands i love (they rarely deliver these days...ok computer and achtung baby are the most recent examples that spring to mind) and i'm pretty certain you guys feel the same way."

11-Jun-2005
Tim comments on the status of the 2nd album in the forum:
"We will take as long as we need to make a truly exceptional album. but if it ends up becoming september then we'll have got ourselves into a serious mess somewhere along the line! i really don't think that will happen but i guess you never know. and as i have said before - and i wish this didn't need reiterating - we are under no pressure from anyone except ourselves to deliver an album, or to do anything else for that matter. the second keane record will come out when it's a genuinely GREAT record and it will be worth the wait. in the meantime i would suggest listening to either hearts and bones by paul simon, or MIA's record."

28-May-2005
The BBC Radio 1 website features an article about the Ivor Novello awards and has asked Tim how the new album was coming along:
"It's great actually", he says modestly.
"I think we feel we've done just over half of a sensational album and it's just a question of pushing ourselves to write another half rather than flaking out half way through."

10-May-2005
In a recent Billboard.com article based on an interview with Tim, he is quoted saying that the band hoped for finishing recording by Christmas, and spring 2006 is mentioned as release time.
A German article on MTV.de also mentions that timeframe.

Tim posted work-in-progress lyrics on the forum.

03-May-2005
A new song, supposedly named "Try Again", is reported by fan to have been premiered to a live audience at the Phoenix gig (US). Apparently Tom commented on the song that Tim had only written it 2 weeks earlier and also that it was "the most beautiful song that Tim has ever written".

22-Apr-2005
Richard answers in the official forum to the question how the recording is going:
"We're sat in the studio listening to a track we're currently calling 'is it any wonder?' and just messing around with stuff, having fun. it's been really good to spend some time here and hang out together, and eat the amazing food. hope everything's ok out in the real world."

09-Apr-2005
There's a BBC article where the band speaks about the April recording session and especially about the equipment:
""We've only just moved our equipment in - maybe we're the greediest band in history for equipment. "I've got three drum kits down there and Tim's got about a billion keyboards." (Richard)
"I've only got a microphone so I'm not the greedy one!" (Tom)

08-Apr-2205
More news on the April studio plans in an article on xfm.co.uk:
"Tim has written quite a batch of new songs for us to have a go at so we’ll just see how they take shape with the three of us in a room. But we’re definitely very excited by it." (Tom)

Tim at the Vienna press conference, 19-Mar-200427-Mar-2005
The Austrian webzine fm5 features a statement made by Tim during the Vienna press conference:
" We've got about 30 new, good new songs, in April we get into the studio and play together and then we will find out whether we actually got anything good. We wanna make a record that's really great and much better than the first record and that's a progression. And that means that the songs have to be better. The ones we hopefully play live tonight (Hamburg Song, Nothing In Your Way), we're really excited about.
I don't know so far about the sound yet, it will be a bit more raw and maybe a bit more funky. The bands that we listen to are not all just kind of white British Indiebands, so we don't necessarily wanna be part of that tradition of kind of earnest British music, we want a bit more funkyness, a bit more rock and a bit more sexyness to our music.”

March 2005
"Nothing In Your Way" and "Hamburg Song" - announced as news songs - are a fixed part of evey show of the European tour now.

23-Feb-2005
Tim speaks about the work on the new album to the online magazine "Playback St. Louis" and confirms that they so far have done "maybe six songs in various states of disrepair".
And further:
"We don’t want to get too settled too early on in the process. We feel we’ve got a really great record in us somewhere. We just need to work hard and push ourselves to bring that out... I think it might be a bit more raw, and a bit more funky."
Tim also describes the writing process.
You can find the complete article here.

05-Feb-2005
A VH1 article confirms the April studio plans:
"'Everything is in limbo,' said Rice-Oxley, 'but I think our first proper chunk of recording will be in April...The band has been writing songs for its second album since Christmas, and has since recorded a few demos.'"
And further:
"There's no word yet on when Keane hope to release their second album, but they have no plans to work on anyone's schedule but their own. 'We're going to really take our time to make a really great record,' Rice-Oxley said. 'It's a bit too early to say much about it, but you know, we're very excited.'"

03-Feb-2005
Just a rumour?
Rumour has it that Keane finished 5-6 songs for the album over Christmas.

05-Jan-2005
The first 2005 issue of the NME features a small news bit about the new album:
"Keane have said the reason they're going back into the studio so soon is because they don't want to loose their creative spark on their second album. The band spent Christmas in the studio working on the new material although they weren't scheduled to start their second album until April.
Pianist Tim Rice-Oxley said: 'We hadn't planned to do any recording until April, but we're so excited about new songs and so desperate to get back into the studio that we just want to throw some ideas around and do that thing of being in a band and playing in a room. We've learned that a lot of the best ideas are unrepeatable, basically so you better try and capture them the first time around.'
New songs include 'Nothing in your Way' and 'Hamburg Song.' Rice-Oxley continued: 'Both of those I'm very pleased about and they have a good atmosphere. One's is atmospheric and empty and the other one's funky, rocking and raw.'"
(thanks to laura6000 for capturing that)

Last week of 2004
According to various sources Keane are in the Heliocentric Studios now to work on new tracks...

10-Dec-2004
Universal Austria sends out an album release preview for 2005 and lists the new Keane album for October 2005 -- see a screenshot of the newsletter

01-Dec-2004
"Keane to record second album at Christmas" reveals NME.com in an article.
"The band are aiming to complete some of the many songs pianist Tim Rice-Oxley has been composing in the back of their tourbus during the trio’s tours of the US and UK. It is rumoured that Keane will return to East Sussex’s Heliocentric Studios to start on their second album – the same place where they recorded ‘Hopes And Fears’."

24-Nov-2004
Tim speaks about writing new songs on the Jo Whiley show and says that he has written quite a lot new songs so far - you can listen to the whole part here (1:25 minutes).
"We're working on it. We've got to write something first! I think we've got a lot of self-belief and feel we can make a really amazing record so we want to make sure we do that and don't rush into making something really mediocre."

21-Nov-2004
Tim is asked by the Q Magazine what he would like to ask Bono: "I'd like to ask for advice on writing a second album - how not to fuck it all up."

28-Oct-2004
According to an NME.com article Keane played "Nothing In Your Way" in a London rehearsal studio. The article further said that the band is "not yet sure if it will appear on their new album".
Richard was quoted as follows: "We do feel pressure, but we put a lot of pressure on ourselves anyway and we’ve earned the right to continue doing things our way. We want to record a better record, not a sequel. The songs have to be good enough so that you can play them in ten different ways and they still sound amazing."

23-Oct-2004
Two new songs - Nothing In Your Way and Hamburg Song - are played for the first time live during the Rolling Stone Roadshow in Germany.
According to Stefan NIYW would fit in perfectly into Hopes & Fears while Hamburg Song - named after the city it has been written in - is played without Richard and was described as "slower" and "bearing a resemblance to Allemande".

28-Sep-2004
The NME website features an article with quotes of Tim about the difficulties of not finding enough time to write new songs due to the "pressing tour schedule". The article mentions March/April as possible recording date, the end of 2005 as planned release period and 'Nothing In Your Way' as possible soon-to-be-heard-live and likely contender.

September 2004
Tim puts Eminem's "Lose Yourself" amongst his Favourite 20 pop songs in the Q Magazine and states "There's a song we're working on for our second album that owes rather a debt to it. And, no, we're not rapping."

14-Aug-2004
Tom told us in our Keane.at interview that the band is "getting into rehearsal studios and working on new songs" on their days off from touring. Further he told us that "Tim has written a couple of really great new songs" and that they will be played live as soon as they are ready.