During its first week on sale in the UK, the album opened at number one, selling 222,297 copies according to figures from the Official Chart Company.

[4] After the release of their debut album, Hopes and Fears, Keane embarked upon a world tour, which reached virtually all Europe and North America and which concluded in October 2005.

"Hamburg Song", composed circa August 2004, deals with the strained relationship between singer Tom Chaplin and pianist Tim Rice-Oxley.

The name of the album is based on a lyric in the track "Crystal Ball", which reads "I've lost my heart, I buried it too deep, under the Iron Sea".

Notable changes from the previous releases by Keane during the Hopes and Fears era are the typeface and style of the cover art.

"The Iron Sea" is Keane's first instrumental track, followed by "Crystal Ball" which has been compared to "early electro U2" and featured Chaplin's "swooning chorus".

[7] "Broken Toy", the longest songin Keane's discography is a jazz-influenced track in 9/8 time and has been compared to Radiohead's "Pyramid Song".

Irvine Welsh, author of the novel Trainspotting, directed the video, which was filmed in black and white on a remote Sussex beach, and did not feature the band.

However, the album was accidentally put on sale for a few hours on 2 June 2006 by Apple Computer's Belgian iTunes Music Store.

[20] All tracks are written by Tom Chaplin, Tim Rice-Oxley and Richard HughesInserting the CD whilst on the band's website at the Wayback Machine (archived 12 June 2006) allows one to unlock exclusive content including: Keane Additional personnel