Release Date: Oct 26, 2004
Genre(s): Indie, Rock
Record label: 679 / Sire
Music Critic Score
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On their self-titled full-length debut, the Futureheads turn the promise of their early EPs and singles into an almost relentlessly playful, lively, and smart album of zippy post-punk-pop. Even though shades of XTC, the Jam, and Gang of Four (whose Andy Gill produced the album) jump out at almost every turn on Futureheads, the band's chiming, precise vocal harmonies -- which sound more British Invasion than new wave -- give their sound a distinctive kick. And, while they follow in roughly the same footsteps that other post-punk/new wave renovators like their friends Franz Ferdinand, the Futureheads sound too spazzy to be quite that fashionable; likewise, they're bouncy and danceable without being tied into the increasingly tired dance-punk sound.