Turning down Chris Martin — the lead singer of Coldplay, for the musically illiterate — may have been the worst or best move for Tim Rice-Oxley, composer, bassist and pianist for the British indie-rock band Keane. According to the British magazine Q, Rice-Oxley told Chris in 1997 that Coldplay would have to find another lead pianist because he was sticking with his English roots playing for Keane, known then as The Lotus Eaters.

Oddly enough, several of the songs on Perfect Symmetry, Keane’s third studio album, sound almost parallel to Coldplay’s songs. The song “You Haven’t Told Me Anything” starts out sounding like a slow-motion, techno version of the beginning of Coldplay’s “Talk.” Similarities continue on to “Playing Along,” whose intro sounds like a combination of Coldplay’s “X&Y” and “Beautiful Day.”

Both bands write simple but meaningful, relatable lyrics, and both Chris Martin’s and Keane vocalist Tom Chaplin’s voice have that drawn-out, eerie moan effect.

Despite the similarities, Keane’s website claims their “new sound” is an experiment in straying away from their usual piano rock sound by mixing musical saw, saxophone and vocals recorded through a drum. The band most popularly known for “Somewhere Only We Know” is only straying toward a sound they know to be the trendy techno-pop sound everyone should be excited to hear.

But for those not interested in logistics or critics and more into a Coldplay meets The Killers meets Gorillaz meets newer-version Sting, Perfect Symmetry may suit your taste. “Love is the End” and “You Don’t See Me” are ideal study songs, where “Spiralling” and “Again and Again” would definitely get you out of bed in the morning with their upbeat, melodic undertones and instruments.

Keane may receive heat for their “Technicolor explosion” in Perfect Symmetry, but based on their impressive website, Keanemusic.com, they should be accredited for their long line of work in the music business. With Tom Chaplin on vocals, Richard Hughes on drums and Tim Rice-Oxley on piano, Keane have been jamming out since the late ’90s in the U.K. and the U.S. and have combined sales of $8 million with their last two albums, Under the Iron Sea in 2006 and Hopes and Fears in 2004.

After spending time with family and friends during their hiatus, Keane jumped back into gear in 2008 to produce Perfect Symmetry, which according to a quote from Chaplin on the band’s webiste, is the best thing they’ve ever put together. After internal problems with the band, this new album represents its new perspective, according to Chaplin, who believes regardless of the feedback, “We may not have this [the band], so we might as well enjoy it.”

Perfect Symmetry could send Keane back to their own train of thought, thinking they could have done “Better Then This” — a track on their latest — or Perfect Symmetry could be an unexpected success. We will just have to wait and see.

2 stars out of 5