You know, I could write a treatise on the horrors of the lowest common denominator, on the dreck that passes for music or art or thought, but instead, I think I’ll just offer up “Night Train,” the newest album from Keane (whom I’m tempted to call Keen, because that is what I did throughout my listen). Keane, a UK chart-topping and Grammy-nominated band has come through with an album that couldn’t be more mundane or less original, a fact seemingly realized with the lyrics of “Stop For a Minute,” in the crooned confession, “Sometimes I feel like it’s all been done.” (It has.) There is not one song on this album that says anything anew, or even well. It’s almost offensively banal. Which is why I was not surprised to hear that one of these songs was featured on a prime-time and highly-rated television show with the episode titled, “Shiny Happy People.” Indeed. Gather ‘round, all, they’re handing out the Soma.
-Serena Hedison
