The Futureheads
New And Tributes
Vagrant/Warners

Whether it's the second or the third album that decides the rise and fall of a band is arguable, but The Futureheads did a solid job with their second attempt to conquer the world.

This band from Sunderland in England stunned the music world in 2005 with their sometimes over-motivated self-titled debut album and their three-to-four voice chorus, because apart from playing their instruments, every one of the four band members is also a vocalist. Though the Futureheads' success is far from that of Franz Ferdinand or Maximo Park, with which they share the northern-English accent, they do try to fill that gap as much as possible with the release of 'News And Tributes', their second album.

While some songs seem to fall into monotony (Skip To The End, which is also the first single), Yes/No is the perfect opener with its leading drums and the pressuring bass, while the powerful Return Of The Berserk offers something new every time and Worry About It Later sounds as though it had just come off their debut.

The last two years allowed The Futureheads to develop their own sound, but songs like Fallout and the ballad Burnt, involving the use of an acoustic guitar, still remind of their old idols XTC and The Jam. Apart from Burnt the album contains another ballad, Thursday, completely unconventional and therefore typical for this band.

Overall, Ben Hillier (Depeche Mode, Blur) created a more complex arrangement of songs this time and the very distinctive choir-like singing is used less frequently than fans would probably have expected, but this has the advantage of making 'News And Tributes' not a mere copy of their old work. Instant-hits like Meantime, Decent Days and Nights Or Robot cannot be found, but The Futureheads demonstrate their ability to still make good music for the calmer moments. Especially the songs that unfold themselves towards the end of the album emerge as worthy successors to the last album and The Futureheads have by no means become a one-hit-wonder but remain one of the most interesting British bands these days.

Gesa Pielok