Hard-Fi – Stars of CCTV Review


Link: Hard-Fi

The Inside Pulse:
What’s a reviewer to do when distain for brit pop gets old just as fast as brit pop itself? I’m tired of automatically discounting anything nominated for the 2005 Mercury Award. So let’s take an unadulterated, world-without-Franz-Ferdinand view of the latest slice to hit the new world.

Stars of CCTV is a decent album with pleasing quotes from bands like Pet Shop Boys and the (Combat Rock-era) Clash. In fact, you might be able to make a day out of finding nods to ’80s British pop songs. The band has no need to apologize for its lyrics or songwriting, and what the band lacks in musicianship it almost makes up for in agreeableness. The three singles already fading from the charts will provide a built-in audience for the long player and there’s no reason people who dug the hits (UK) or hit (US) should shy away from a purchase.

So here’s the pivotal question — and the question that I end up asking of all brit pop, leading us back to the Franz-inclusive world: can you feel the pain? Where the Arctic Monkeys’s Alex Turner (and like it or not, that’s where the bar is set these days) tells simple stories that perfectly ride the line between feeling comfortable with and horrified by his surroundings, Hard-Fi is about craftsmanship. Nothing wrong with that, but I like to feel a little more urgency in my pop music.

Positives:
There are some people who love this new explosion in British pop music, and they will eat this up. It’s really not bad for the genre.

The band knows music. I’ve got a soft spot for “fan bands,” and Hard-Fi has that “steeped in their own history” feel.

There’s nice variety track to track while staying true to a basic pop-rock foundation that works for them. If you find you like this disk, you will definitely get a lot of play from it.

Negatives:
With a name like Hard-Fi (short for hard fidelity?) you would think there would be something hard about them musically or thematically. I’d settle for hard to figure out. This album is none of those things. The occasional driving guitar lick became a pop staple decades ago, so no points there. Also, shouldn’t “Stars of CCTV” be criminal or at least a little dirty?

The sound is spontaneous enough, a saving grace for this album which would have been simply intolerable with over-production, but everything seems set to six and a half. It never gets all-consuming or head-bobbing, or even really rises above the toe-tap.

No fault to the band, but this feels like a sort of slow chapter in a much larger story. If you own most or all of the other disks listed in the Mercury Prize link above, you either know you want more or you know you don’t. If you’re on the fence, try before you buy (:30 clips of every song are available on the band’s site).

Cross-breed:
One part Spoon, one part Kaiser Chiefs, one part water; garnish with ’80s British pop flourishes.

Reason to buy:
You love brit pop or you enjoy well done, smart pop that doesn’t push the needle too far to the right.