Wave

Audio Mixer: Ben Baptie.Recording information: Assault & Battery, London; Big White Studios, Kent; Snap Studios, London; The Garage, Pasadena.Creator: Derek Hudson.Photographer: Derek Hudson.Like ocean waters -- where it's darkest beneath the shimmering surface -- Tom Chaplin's first solo LP The Wave is a beautiful debut churning with pain and desperation. After his band Keane went on hiatus in 2013, his struggles with addiction reached a scary low at the start of 2015, when he almost died after an extended drug binge. In the context of his subsequent recovery and rebirth, The Wave is a triumph. Charting the painful journey from rock bottom to an optimistic future with his wife and daughter, it's Chaplin's statement of survival and atonement, a cautionary tale of fame and excess. Such albums are hardly rare, but The Wave is particularly moving in its purity. Produced by Matt Hales (Aqualung, Lianne La Havas), this contemporary pop album is also Chaplin's first foray into full songw