Frankie and the Heartstrings – Hunger

upbeat and a hell of a lot of fun

Sunderland’s answer to Roxy Music. They may be 30 years late, but at least they’ve got a bit of groove and pzazz about them (and I don’t mean the dodgy nightclub that used to be in Sunderland city centre. Actually, on second thoughts, I think I might.) There’s a lot to like here and they’ve certainly got bags of potential. The music is catchy, spiky, upbeat and a hell of a lot of fun but lyrically they’ve got some work to do. Ungrateful, for example, loses its oomph way before the tune deserves, Fragile is too full of itself for its own good and while Hunger’s choral woah oh oh’s bring the Futureheads to mind it still feels less exciting than you really want it to be. Let’s not be too critical though. If they ever graduate up from the kind of lyrics sixth formers try to pass off as poetry, they could well become something special. It’s a joy to find a band that know how to craft a tune and there’s enough here to have you dancing round your bedroom when you’re getting ready on a Friday night. And, frankly, that’s more than enough.