Keane Take Sonic Cue From the Vaccines on New Album

Good news for Keane fans: 'Strangeland,' the forthcoming fourth studio album, has the same vibe as the band's early efforts, singer Tom Chaplin says.

As for the sonic attributes of 'Strangeland,' pianist Tim Rice-Oxley credits another British group's initial album for the direction Keane chose.

Rice-Oxley and his bandmates had already started work on what would become 'Strangeland' when they first heard the Vaccines' 2011 debut, 'What Did You Expect from the Vaccines?'

"We loved what [producer] Dan Grech did on [their] album. … He'd also done stuff with Radiohead," Rice-Oxley tells NME.com. "As luck would have it, Dan was a massive Keane fan, so we ended up working with him."

According to Chaplin, the last time Keane devoted so much time to making an album was 'Hopes and Fears,' the band's 2004 debut. How 'Strangeland' sounded was important to Keane, but so was the strength of the material.

"You write a lot of s--- songs to get to the good ones," Rice-Oxley says. "It's a very emotional album."

Keane recently unveiled the cover art for 'Strangeland,' which is due to drop in early May. Meanwhile, on March 17, Keane will be a showcasing act during the South by Southwest music conference/festival in Austin, Texas.