The Futureheads, Powers - album review
Sunderland quartet The Futureheads have returned with their sixth album Powers.
It's their first since the a capella Rant in 2012, and the first fuelled by their fun-filled punk-lite riffs since The Chaos in 2010.
It sees the foursome lean on the kind of off-kilter, harmonised choruses that made their self-titled 2004 debut so huge. Yet they've pushed them on. While doffing a cap to past successes, they're forward-thinking. More serious if you like.
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They could have rested on nostalgia, but as Barry Hyde says: "I love the thing Bowie said about how an artist should be slightly out of their depth because that's when you get the good stuff."
Harmonised choruses with spiky guitars is their magnum opus. Think of their epic cover of Kate Bush's Hounds Of Love, Decent Days And Nights, The Beginning Of The Twist.
Here the harmonies are present, but in a less goofy and more serious manner than their previous post-punk revival material.
Take Animus. Hyde talks a lot on this record about his battles with depression which stopped the band in their tracks previously. There is a feeling of propulsion to the music. We feel like the machine gun percussion and solemn, purposeful guitars are carrying us through Hyde's personal struggles to where he is today.
There's some full-on agitation in Across The Border. Here, Hyde is spitting out spoken word criticisms of modern politics. Social commentary features highly alongside personal strife in the lyrical content of the album and it couldn't be more fitting given the current mess at the Commons.
For classic Futureheads vibes, see opening single Jekyll. Pumped up, frantic and full of the kind of 'oh, oh, oh' vocal refrains which adorned much of their debut record's material, it made those tracks so good for live show sing-alongs. The instrumental breakdown after the three-minute mark is mesmerising and very reminiscent of Interpol.
The atmospheric 0704 breaks the mould, though. A homage to his partner and first-born daughter Nico, it's about their home birth experience and is named after the time Nico arrived. It's a lyrically and musically beautiful track.
It's a fine return with a lot of material which might help others through their own struggles.
Rating: 7/10
The Futureheads will be bringing a 15th anniversary tour to Birmingham's O2 Institute on December 7 which will see them play their self-titled debut record in full
