CDs of the week

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POP

KEANE
Perfect Symmetry (Island)
****

Bands usually become more self-important the more successful they become, so credit to Keane for going a bit silly on their third album. Once pegged as a mild-mannered Coldplay, here they mostly ditch their trademark piano-drums-vocals sound in favour of soft-rock jollity. There's guitar-led funk on You Haven't Told Me Anything, soaring synth riffs on Again and Again and quirkiness on Better Than This, which has the bounce of David Bowie's Ashes to Ashes plus Tom Chaplin's best Sparks falsetto. The Lovers Are Losing shows they haven't forgotten how to write a huge chorus, and there's still enough soppy piano balladry for less adventurous fans.

David Smyth

KAISER CHIEFS
Off With Their Heads (B-Unique/Polydor)
****
After three albums, it's becoming pretty clear what to expect from Kaiser Chiefs: sparkly, chorus heavy, pop-punk with both a wink and a surprisingly cynical turn of phrase. And despite employing Mark Ronson as producer and Lily Allen as inaudible backing vocalist, this snappy 36-minute album is evolution rather than revolution. Addicted to Drugs and Half the Truth are long-lost cousins of 10CC's Life Is a Minestrone and Heaven 17's I'm Your Money respectively, but mostly they're refining their art. A friend for life after one hearing, Never Miss a Beat is Kaiser Chiefs in excelsis; the string-laden Like it Too Much offers a touch of gravitas but, you suspect, they still haven't yet peaked.
John Aizlewood

RAY LAMONTAGNE
Gossip in the Grain (14th Floor)
****
All things considered, it's a damned good thing that there are people such as Ray LaMontagne out there. Ray writes songs in a variety of styles, from country to old-fashioned rock 'n' roll, with a penchant for the lush ballad. His voice is husky and sweet, rough yet vulnerable. The opening You are The Best Thing is a modern take on the classic soul song, while the whistling intro and Clash-inflected rhythm of Meg White — a love song to the world's favourite drummer girl — shows that Ray can rock out with the best of them. I Still Care For You and the title track are lovely ballads that identify him as a true romantic — again, a damned good thing.
Pete Clark

JAZZ

AMBROSE AKINMUSIRE
Prelude (FreshSound NewTalent)
*****Believe the hype for once: here's a debut album of real depth and originality. Trumpeter Akinmusire's hypermodern yet shapely themes are not so much performed as lived and breathed by a brilliant young group, mostly fellow alumni of the Thelonious Monk Institute in Los Angeles. Pianist Aaron Parks is already an international name and the others, including Akinmusire, tenorist Walter Smith, vibist Chris Dingman and drummer Justin Brown, will surely follow. Writing and soloing of such freshness and conviction, delivered with a subtly authentic pulse, will hearten those who still look to America as hub of the art form it created.
Jack Massarik

WORLD

NITIN SAWHNEY
London Undersound (Cooking Vinyl)
****
This is a powerful album about London from one of Britain's most interesting musicians. Days of Fire, the opening track, is likely to receive the most attention. It is co-written with Natty, who by a scary coincidence was a witness to the 7/7 bus explosion and the shooting two weeks later of Jean Charles De Menezes: "I've seen the city change in oh so many ways, since the days of fire." With an exciting list of collaborators, including Paul McCartney, Tina Grace, Spanish group Ojos de Brujo and sitarist Anoushka Shankar, London Undersound reflects the city's diversity as well as its concerns. The album features artwork by Antony Gormley.
Simon Broughton