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The Futureheads
Barnes and Noble
The Futureheads
Current price: $48.99
Barnes and Noble
The Futureheads
Current price: $48.99
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On their self-titled full-length debut,
turn the promise of their early EPs and singles into an almost relentlessly playful, lively, and smart album of zippy
-
. Even though shades of
,
, and
(whose
produced the album) jump out at almost every turn on
, the band's chiming, precise vocal harmonies -- which sound more
than
-- give their sound a distinctive kick. And, while they follow in roughly the same footsteps that other
/
renovators like their friends
sound too spazzy to be quite that fashionable; likewise, they're bouncy and danceable without being tied into the increasingly tired
sound.
includes a few songs from the
and
EPs, and while the album doesn't exactly suffer from the inclusion of tracks like
the band's newer work shows how they've already refined and expanded their sound since they wrote these songs. With its slower pace and
-inspired vocal arrangement,
finds the group trying on different ideas for size. The breezy
stretch and snap in all directions, with tight dynamic shifts and wound-up melodies. As distinctive as
' sound is, the album's standout track is a cover: their tremendous version of
's
captures the breathless buzz of falling in love. It's the perfect combination of the band's thrilling sound and strong, evocative songwriting, a department in which the band's own work can fall a little flat: individually, tracks like
are bracing fun, but they tend to blur together within the album's context. Fortunately, singles like
and final track
show that
can write songs that don't just depend on their emphatic delivery. While a little more depth in their songwriting would make them unstoppable,
' first full-length is an undeniably exciting debut that just gets better with repeated listens. ~ Heather Phares