This Is Not The World, the third record from post-punk devotees The Futureheads, finds them not so much moving forward or backward as sitting still and reducing their sound to something more easily digestible. Think of it this way: If 2004's The Futureheads and 2006's News and Tributes are a steak dinner, This Is Not The World is a steak dinner pill to be eaten on board the space shuttle. This isn't at all an insult. Rather, the band simply seems to have set out to take their twitchy stop-start, start-again-and-go-even-faster arrangements and apply them to a record that might have more pop appeal. The resulting disc pretty neatly accomplishes this task, if it takes a few compromises on lyrical depth and artistic growth to get there. This may not be the best trade in the long run, but it makes for an immensely viscerally enjoyable record this time.
To call the album "propulsive" is like calling Deal or No Deal "somewhat lacking in intellectual challenge." Tracks blaze along at an amazing clip, stopping occasionally less for rest than to emphasize how fast the fast parts really are. "Broke Up The Time," "The Beginning of The Twist" and "Walking Backwards" should all be played at maximum volume at all times by law. These are the best moments on the CD, where the sheer velocity of the music produces this feeling of being swept up in something larger, careening out of control towards no particular object, just for the joy of speed. It's no wonder that the video for "Broke Up The Time" mostly consists of a sped-up wild ride to nowhere through the streets of Spain.
Like any album that devotes itself more to fist-pumping than poetry, This Is Not The World does not benefit from lyrical analysis, or really deep thought in general. While the band's debts to The Jam are undeniable, some tracks feel more like attempts simply to sound like Paul Weller than music inspired by him. The lyrics lack the depth of a Weller, or a Ray Davies or a Daman Albarn. Vocalist/lyricist Barry Hyde seems content to toss off one criticism ("If I hear one more person talking about these days/Saying it's hard in this day and age/ I will explode") before going on to some truly strange metaphors ("Look at our cousins in the sea/They seem highly together") and then simply repeating the hook over and over.
There also seems to be a somewhat artificial attempt to keep the lyrical content as upbeat as the tempos. The album has nothing approaching the darkness of the closing moments of The Jam's "Down in The Tube Station at Midnight," when the song's hero is slowly bleeding to death, knowing that his wife is about to be raped and likely murdered. No, here, even the break-up song, "Hard to Bear," tries to be uplifting. Despite dwelling on his subject's sheet-sniffing obsessiveness for a departed ex-lover for most of the track, the hook has Hyde telling him "It's hard to bear, but not impossible, as such/ You're not always going to miss her touch."
To obsess over these details, though, is to miss the point. These are songs to be pumped from speakers, not to be poured over. When all is said and done, there are certainly worse ambitions than producing enjoyable music. This Is Not The World may have a somewhat uneven tone and some silly lyrics, but it's not hard to imagine slurping down a few Jamesons on the rocks and forgetting all your more esoteric issues with this record. Then you can just jump up and down, shout along, and have a really, really fucking great time.
The Futureheads – This Is Not The World is available now. Buy it on Amazon.
Download "Broke Up the Time" from This Is Not The World – [mp3]
For more information visit www.thefutureheads.co.uk or myspace.com/thefutureheads
