The Futureheads: The Chaos

After a frenetic 2004 debut that nodded to early XTC, Wire, and The Jam, Sunderland’s The Futureheads refined their sound to fantastic effect on 2006’s News And Tributes, which let their songs breathe more, and develop a sense of majesty. Since then, though, The Futureheads have been in retreat, with 2008’s This Is Not The World and their new album, The Chaos both offering noisy, herky-jerky post-punk featuring choruses better shouted than sung. In the case of The Chaos, the return to mayhem is purposeful: this is an album about worlds spinning out of control, so the absence of fluid melodic lines on songs like the title track and “Stop The Noise” serves The Futureheads’ intentions. Still, whenever the band calms down enough to deliver a song with real highs and lows—like the Springsteen-quoting “Heartbeat Song,” the kitschy, spooky “Sun Goes Down,” and the rangy “Dart At The Map”—it’s more obvious what’s missing from the rest of The Chaos. These days, The Futureheads seem primarily interested in pumping up the crowd, but they used to be just as good at keeping audiences entertained even at rest.