KEANE’S new release, The Night Train EP, is an illogical step for the Dalby Forest-bound trio. Who says so? Why, the Sussex band themselves.

The eight-track EP comes only 18 months after their gear-changing third album, Perfect Symmetry, whose new portfolio of electronica and dance beats surprised many brought up on Keane’s soaring, melodious albums.

“Perfect Symmetry was a very rhythmical album, and more exuberant,” says lead singer Tom Chaplin.

“It was a step in a different direction for Keane, and introduced a lot of people who’d never heard of us to our music. It opened a few doors for us too, that last record. And now this slightly illogical step...”

Whereas Keane’s three albums have each involved spending months in a studio – they decamped to Berlin for a few months for Perfect Symmetry – The Night Train was recorded while Chaplin, songwriter Tim Rice-Oxley and drummer Richard Hughes were on tour, in the manner of U2’s Rattle And Hum and REM’s New Adventures In Hi-Fi.

“We were inspired by all parts of the world,” says Richard. “South America, largely, but everywhere. The EP is the flipside of touring for a year.

“You know, you go on the road and play your songs, and it’s easy to trick yourself into thinking that you’re doing something creative, but actually you’re just playing through things you’ve done before.

“In reality you can go 18 months without writing a new note. But we wanted to keep the creativity going and record new things, so we visited studios around the world and we found ourselves full of ideas.”

Keane recorded new material in South America, Australia, Denmark and Germany, and just as U2 worked off the cuff with BB King and Bob Dylan on Rattle And Hum, so collaborations have played a part in The Night Train EP, too.

Japanese baile funk MC Tigarah features on the electro-pop Ishin Denshin (You’ve Got To Help Yourself), while most striking of all are the tracks recorded with Somalian rapper K’Naan, Stop For A Minute and Looking Back.

“The first time I’d heard of K’Naan was when we were doing an interview and Tom mentioned him in a Tracks Of The Year-type list he was doing,” recalls Richard.

“K’Naan then mentioned he liked Keane in an interview, so we thought we’d see what happened if went into the studio together. Three songs came out in three days, and two of them are on the EP.”

Keane were insistent collaborations would not be of the Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder variety, recording Ebony And Ivory oceans apart in separate studios.

“It had to be a face-to face-thing with K’Naan,” says Tom. “We didn’t want to just send each other the tracks.

“I like him because he’s a hip hop artist that isn’t about posturing. He’s very soulful and very philosophical, and that chimed with what we are as a band. It was great to have him around, he’s a great singer, a great lyricist, and he really added a new dimension to what we do, in a way that we’d never have imagined before. It was a really successful collaboration.”

As Keane prepare for a summer tour of arenas and forests that brings them to Dalby Forest on the North York Moors on June 25, fans will want to know if further new material is in the pipeline.

“The earliest we would think about going into the studio is the summer, and even then, that’s the earliest,” says Richard. “We’re taking things very easily.”

“Trust me, a ten-date tour is taking it easy compared to if we’d released a full album,” says Tom.

“We actually did more tracks that aren’t on the EP, but we didn’t want to release a full album as we would have had to go on the road for 18 months to promote it. In a way, this EP is borne out of laziness.”

Nevertheless, Tom is looking forward to the woodland tour.

“Bedgebury Forest in Kent is somewhere my mum used to go to and would drag me along and make me learn the names of the trees,” he says. “Maybe that could be my patter between songs? ‘That, everybody, is a Scots Pine’ ... and so on. Maybe not!

“I think this will be enough for everyone for a while,” he says, swiftly changing the subject from his tree revelations. “I think it’d be nice to have a break, completely. For a while, at least.”

Who knows where Keane will go next once The Night Train leaves the summer woods behind, but they promise they will return.

• Keane play Dalby Forest, near Pickering, on June 25; sold out. The Night Train EP is released this week.