The Futureheads, News and Tributes
The difficult second album. So often a failure for many bands, but what of Sunderland’s finest? This offering takes a much darker tack than their self titled debut, echoing the punk rhythms and socially concious lyrics of The Clash and The Jam. They have also learned from the success of ‘Hounds of Love’, expanding on the successful backing harmonies throughout.
Fans of the songs ‘A to B’ or ‘Hounds of Love’ may be disappointed here. Although ‘Favours for Favours’, ‘To the Sea’ and ‘Skip to the End’ are standout tracks, they don’t quite share the same anthemic resonance or catchiness.
Several songs indicate a change in style without losing the distinctive Futureheads mark. This is most obvious in ‘Thursday’, which oddly echoes the intro to the Beach Boys’ classic ‘Wouldn’t it be Nice’. The bass driven ‘Burnt’ channels the Pixies’ loud/quiet sound in The Futureheads’ own unique way.
Nonetheless, it doesn’t pulsate with raw passion in the same way as The Futureheads did and, although the new ideas are interesting, sometimes they fall short. The closing track ‘Face’ starts promisingly, ends abruptly and feels like an injustice, closing an unsatisfacory album in an unsatisfactory manner.
Reviewed by Ben Toone
Out 29/05/06
