The Futureheads: News And Tributes : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

The 2004 debut from this Sunderland, England, quartet was a half-hour-long blast of exuberance, setting jittery, jam-style punk grooves under four-part harmonies and Barry Hyde's excited Brit-boy croons. News and Tributes expands and sharpens the formula, folding subtle compositional moves into songs catchy and rousing enough to make the Futureheads your new favorite band. There are anthemic bangers ("Yes/No") and broken-heart stories with sugar-shot choruses and na-na-na backing vocals ("Skip to the End"). There's also "Cope," a roller-coaster ride of running-amok grooves and agitated yelps, and "Fallout," which strings together fuzzy guitar spills, hand claps, two different beats (one bouncy, one propulsive) and a call-and-response refrain that spreads out like morning light. Hyde's lyrics are long on vague disaffection and short on specifics, and tunes occasionally feel a little submerged. But on News and Tributes, the Futureheads make punk that's packed with ideas and downright radiant.