The Beat Surrender

Of all the bands that have emerged in Britain in the last three years or so The Futureheads have always held a higher place in my affections than most. I loved the debut album and that was before they included Hounds Of Love on it, they got away with releasing a cover version as a single which I usually hate and they rock the big one live.

Difficult second album syndrome is something that hasn’t been a problem for them either, they’ve gone for a darker, edgier sound on News And Tributes but have still retained a certain pop/new wave charm about them as emphasised on the brilliant Skip To The End single.

Yes/No is a great opener and further on its not hard to see why Worry About It Later has been chosen as the second single. In and amongst those tracks though are less obvious headline songs that help to underpin the album with consistency, Burnt, Fallout and Favours For Favours being typical of that.

A good return by a very good band, I just hope they can keep this up over the coming years.