Album: Hurts – Exile

Major Label/RCA

Did anyone manage to avoid Hurts a few years ago? Possessing the aura of Wham! with graphic design degrees, they were a flashy assault on the charts before slotting into a prolonged cycle of touring. Now, they’re back and ready to take on a pop scene very different to their entrance; one now more open to the likes of The xx and Bastille, as opposed to sugar-rush synthpop. However, every indication is that this record is a lot darker than their debut, the triumphant Happiness, from album cover to lyrical content.

This change is marked by title track and opener, ‘Exile’. Vocalist Theo Hutchcraft gives a performance much less like the male Annie Lennox he affected previously. Here, he is somewhat comparable to the likes of Matt Bellamy from Muse, balancing his range alongside a downbeat mood. It’s an odd change but fitting to the grimmer instrumentation; however, will it go down so well with a fanbase used to a more bombastic sound?

It’d be incorrect to say that there’s been an entire departure from their original sound; ‘Only You’ and ‘Miracle’ possess all the expected glamour and are shaped to be hits, but possess new ideas. For instance, guitars play a significant part on Exile, notably on ‘Miracle’ and ‘Somebody To Die For’, suggesting either a desire to grow or the realisation of the confines of two men and a keyboard. Indeed, there seems to be a wider palate of influences at work here. This ranges from the crisp, R&B-tinged ‘Sandman’ to the restrained pianos and choral backing of ‘Help’ to the sleazy rock of ‘The Cupid.’ However, there seems to be an insincerity to this cherry-picking, as if swiping genre conventions in order to broaden appeal.

Lyrically, Hurts had a lot to improve on from “it feels better than love.” Now, it’s all “when I open my eyes, you disappear,” as heard on ‘The Road.’ This has been a well-publicised track, notable in the Mancunian duo’s minds of the Ballard and McCarthy influence. That quibble aside, there is a heavy atmosphere created by Adam Anderson’s keyboard work, adding tension to Hutchcraft’s tense vocals, a welcome departure from the hit-ready formula.

Overall, Hurts have suggested for the first time in their career that there’s more to them than suits and gel; knowledge of balancing nuances and hooks, brevity of influences, a bravery in risking alienating their fans. However, ‘Exile’ sounds like a work of disunity, never managing to marry the odd-ends into a work of coherence, dragged down by an attempted glumness. Orchestra strings to six strings, triumph to despair, theatre stage to kitchen sink.