Cherwell - Oxford University student newspaper

This is the latest album from Sunderland-based post-punk group The Futureheads and… it’s self-released.

That’s right – after being dropped from their label due to the poor sales of News and Tributes, they set up their own label, nul records so as not to deprive the world of their sound.

I can tell that fans will be clamouring to see whether This Is Not The World amounts to more than nothing.

The best–known track on the album is undoubtably ‘The Beginning Of The Twist’, which has received considerable airplay. ‘Broke Up The Time’ was also available as a free download.

Both of these songs are fairly standard Futureheads fare – big guitars, awesome harmonies and slightly incomprehensible lyrics. The problem is that they’ve made a Kaiser Chiefs–esque attempt to move away from the stylings that some might call novelty.

Unfortunately, with The Futureheads, this has basically stripped them of what made them unique. The oohs are gone, as are many of the more unusual riffs, leaving a bland middle–of–the–road album.

This is okay for the first few songs, but then I found myself longing for a slower song to break things up a bit. The rest of the album just merged together into a generic indie sound.

Now, I do have it on good authority that this music sounds good live, so I will just say: give them a chance if they’re playing a venue near you.

The album isn’t bad, it’s just that it doesn’t knock your socks off, as some of their earlier songs did.

And to be frank, when the best a band can do is a cover of a Kate Bush track, it might be time to call it a day.

In this writer’s opinion, The Futureheads should stop dragging their feet and admit that their best work is in the past.

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