TMO favourites The Futureheads have been working on an accapella album, Rant, which will be released on April 2nd 2012. The band from Sutherland, already well known for their adventurous song structures and harmonies (for example their electrifying version of Kate Bush’s Hounds of Love – released as a single in 2004, and now some 8 years later still a regular on our office playlists), commented about the thinking behind the new album on their website:
When you’ve played guitars, drums, keyboards, whatever for many years, you find that your hands start to want to automatically play familiar notes, familiar chords, familiar melodies every time you pick up the instrument. With your voice, that simply doesn’t happen. It’s a fresh start every time. The sky’s the limit and it has been since birth. With this in mind, the a cappella record has us making noise like never before
It’s a refreshing change, to have a band record an album with an artistic goal in mind rather than a contract and schedule to respect – but The Futureheads have always been interested in art, form, and structure; back in 2007 when TMO caught up with them on the News and Tributes tour, for example, we talked with songwriter Barry Hyde about the difference between a good and a great song:
“Well, if we’re talking about purely song, when you take away recording. A song that can be perfomed by an individual with an instrument and vocals, probably a balance between simplicity and … beauty? I don’t know. I think there should be honesty in a great song, but then again some great songs are just ridiculously daft [laughs all round]. I suppose the difference between a good song and a great song is opinion.”
Talking about the album, and upcoming UK tour, Hyde said “Just because this is an acappella album doesn’t mean to say that the songs are slow or passive. They’re still in-your-face, slightly mad, aggressive. They’re still The Futureheads.”
The Futureheads are on tour in the UK in April
2nd: BRIGHTON, Komedia
3rd: BRISTOL, Colston Hall
4th: LONDON, Union Chapel
5th: LEEDS, Wardrobe
6th: STOCKTON, Georgian Theatre
8th: GATESHEAD, Sage
9th: GLASGOW, Oran Mor
10th: BIRMINGHAM, Glee Club
12th: NOTTINGHAM, Glee Club
13th: MANCHESTER, Royal Northern College of Music
The album ‘Rant’ is out on April 2nd through Nul Records alongside double A-side single ‘Meet Me Halfway/The No.1 Song in Heaven’.