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The Futureheads – This Is Not The World
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Remember the early Noughties? Sure you do – it was like 1979 all over again, with all these spiky, slightly punky bands with angular guitars and bouncy basslines bringing new wave to the masses. Not so new, really. Anyway, the dusted-down new wave was led by New York scenesters like The Rapture and The Strokes, while over here we had something a bit more literate from Franz Ferdinand and The Futureheads.
The fire's gone out for most of these second generation trailblazers – although we wait for the garish fruits of the Franz Ferdinand/Xenomania soundclash – but The Futureheads have braved loss of record label faith to come back independent and bristling with a third album.
These charming Sunderland lads have a mixed track record, their often workaday rumbustious rock offset by the odd moment of inspiration – the clever cover of Kate Bush's 'Hounds Of Love', the creative time signatures of 2006 single 'Skip To The End' – but This Is Not The World shrinks from the ambitious stuff. You get the feeling they're wounded and sticking to the tried and trusted.
It doesn't have to be a criticism. At their best – on boisterous opener and single 'The Beginning of The Twist', the Bostik chorus of 'Work Is Never Done' and smart pop and glowing harmonies of 'See What You Want' – The Futureheads exhilarate to the point of delirium.
But what's thrilling in small doses is wearing over 12 tracks, and the blistering pace gets knackering. One after another, riffs you could eat your lunch off come juddering at you, and while it's an impressive spread, you can yearn for a change of menu. This comes with the foot-off-pedal of the bittersweet, Elvis Costello-esque single 'Radio Heart' and the lighter touch of 'Hard To Bear', chiming like The Killers, but that's your lot. The rest is breakneck riffola. It seems churlish to knock such excitement, but The Futureheads must know as well as most that you need many strings to your bow in this game.
Matthew Horton
