Singles

The Futureheads - Radio Heart

Mark Shields 06/05/2008

Rating: 2/5

The Futureheads are a conundrum. They were instantly successful, with the debut pulling at almost all the strings of the new-wave guitar band zeitgeist, with shouting vocals, loud drums, a little bit of rough production and quick rhythms that protracted tracks all over the place. Their debut album is still one of my favourites of this century. Included in that is their second LP too - "News and Tributes" - left behind by most commercially (leading to their eventual drop by their label) it's great: being bolder, more mature and generally better than the first album but for some reason it wasn't as successful as it should have been, this is the conundrum.

With that last single restoring commercial faith, managing to gather a fair amount of Radio 1 airtime, you have to wonder if they have cracked it again. "Radio Heart" shows that they haven't. It worries me that this, picked as the next single follows, pretty much every trick already tried and tired by other bands. The lyrics are banal, the guitar is basic and rather weak and the chorus, even though using a style that made me swoon initially, seems to be lacking in… well, a chorus.

I have high hopes for the third album, but based on the amazing "Beginning of the Twist" and this mediocre single, the album might both hit and miss, ending up amounting to nothing.

Release date: 19/05/08