Hurts - Happiness
- Written by Rosie Duffield
There has been much hype around Hurts. Known for a while only as the unknown duo who’d managed to snare Kylie Minogue for a collaboration on their album, there seemed to be a certain ‘je ne sais quoi’ about the band. What emerged was a slice of pop tinged with an ‘80s electro feel - synths and drum machines, occasional falsetto and simple melodies that get stuck on repeat inside your head.
Their hotly anticipated album Happiness doesn’t disappoint. Singles ‘Wonderful Life’ and ‘Better Than Love’ are instantly recognisable – but there are plenty of other tracks worthy of release.
Alongside poppier moments such as these, there are also slower, melancholic and certainly darker sounding songs. ‘Evelyn’ is one such track; haunting synths juxtaposed by driving percussion and longing lyrics such as “In the night/As you sit and watch me sleep/I know you cry/But I’m never one to see/So if you go/I don’t know what I’ll do/So don’t you go/Cause I got no-one but you”.
Even the Kylie track is a little dark; Ms. Minogue’s harmonies on ‘Devotion’ add an air of despair to the song. Despite the somewhat gloomy music, the lyrics are fairly hopeful: “Inside the heart of every man/There is a lust you understand/And I’m just the same/When all the love has gone away/And passion stares me in the face/Could I walk away/Here’s hoping/You’ll help me to be brave”.
It’s a recurring theme throughout the album, and one that the band claim is at the heart of all their songs. Describing the act of “staring into the jaws of despair” as “exciting”, singer Theo Hutchcraft says it’s finding the hope in a situation that inspires his writing. As Hutchcraft sings, Adam Anderson plays the part of synth player, which could lend itself comparisons to The Pet Shop Boys. But Hurts don’t have as brash a sound; their songs are fairly mellow and at times sound like Scissor Sisters’ gentler songs.
If the Manchester duo’s duet with Kylie was intended to grab attention, they certainly achieved it. But if it was to gain credibility, they needn’t have bothered pulling such a stunt. Happiness stands alone as a good piece of pop, and the hype is well deserved.