Spending four years on album four turned out to be the right decision for Keane as they went straight to No1 again. Now they bring their new tour to Kent.

After a string of No1 albums, Keane could have been forgiven for going all diva. Yet their fourth record, Strangeland, is their most personal record yet and quietly went straight to No1 in its first week, in the same way the band has gone about all their success.

There were four years between the third album and last month’s release, albeit with No1 EP Night Train released in 2010. In that time Keane have gone about rediscovering what makes them a great band.

Gravesend-born drummer Richard Hughes said: “In many respects, it feels like the completion of a circle. On the album you have songs that draw upon the experiences we used to share as kids, growing up in East Sussex.

“You can never really go back, of course. We’re married and some of us have kids. Once in a while though, after a good day, we’ll go to the local pub and talk about everything and nothing until it’s time to go home. Whatever it is that makes us Keane – that invisible glue – is still there. And you can hear it all over Strangeland.”

On this journey into themselves, their pianist and main songwriter Tim Rice-Oxley came up with more than 100 songs for the album. They were whittled down to a shortlist of about 50 by the rest of the band, in a pretty brutal process for Tim.

“I can’t say I envied him,” said Richard. “You’d get this email with no words – just a title in the subject header and an MP3 attached to it. If your reaction was lukewarm, only then would you find out that was the one he’d spent three days writing.”

Profound reflection was the benchmark for songs that made it on to the album as well as having something of that classic Keane piano rock sound which made their debut album Hopes and Fears go nine times platinum in 2004.

The track Watch How You Go is an example of this – a bittersweet friendship song, freighted with an emotional heft that only extra years can bring.

Frontman Tom Chaplin remembered “hearing it for the first time and wondering if it was about me. But then, that’s a quality that Tim’s best songs have. They feel personal, but then, when you take them out onto the road you realise that’s how everyone feels.”

Tom remembered feeling a similar kinship with the sentiments of In Your Own Time, the penultimate track on Strangeland.

“Straight away,” he smiled. “On a personal level, I was itching to sing it.”

Keane recorded Strangeland in Tim’s studio with producer Dan Grech, who has worked with Radiohead, The Vaccines, Howling Bells and Lana del Rey. The band also had new member Jesse Quin on bass.

“I love having Jesse in the band,” said Richard. “It feels like we’re a proper rhythm section.

“The fact is that so many things came together for this album. As well as having Dan and Jesse on board, Tim had finished building his studio. And that makes such a huge difference. It’s far more conducive to creativity.”

Keane perform at Folkestone’s Leas Cliff Hall on Monday, June 4. Tickets £26. Box office 0844 871 7627.