PREVIEW: Keane Meet Irvine Welsh

Keane release an exclusive, groundbreaking short film download on Friday 21st April, directed by cult author Irvine Welsh.

A special extended version of ‘Atlantic’ will be the first material released by the band since the success of their critically-acclaimed debut album ‘Hopes and Fears’, and is taken from the forthcoming album, ‘Under The Iron Sea’.

Irvine Welsh, the influential Scottish author of the cult-classic ‘Trainspotting’, was approached by the band to direct the new video, despite having never previously directed before. As a longstanding fan of the band, Welsh agreed and has spun an extraordinary and typically oblique composition.

Atlantic is a dark and brooding return for Keane, and proved an inspiration for Welsh.

Tom Chaplin, Keane’s vocalist, said of the partnership: 'It's a claustrophobic, foreboding song that takes you straight into the eerie world of our new album.

“We met up with Irvine in the studio as Atlantic was coming together. We talked and felt he was the ideal person to put our song into pictures. He in turn felt that Atlantic could prove the perfect soundscape for his directorial debut. The result is a dark artistic statement that adds a new dimension to the song.

“We wanted everyone to have something special from the album before it comes out, something that sets people up for the mood of Under The Iron Sea, so we chose to make this a video download.”

The short film will be aired exclusively by Channel 4 on Friday 21st April at 11:30pm. Subsequently, it will be available to download exclusively through the 3 Mobile network, who will be promoting the film to their four million+ UK user base.

The film will then be available to download online through iTunes from April 25th

‘Is It Any Wonder’, the debut single, will be released on 29th May and the album ‘Under The Iron Sea’ on 12th June 2006.