If there’s one word that sums up pretty much everything about Manchester based electro duo Hurts, it’s poise. They just have so much of it. Watch them perform live and you’ll see a show more choreographed than the longest running West End show, visuals sparkle behind the band as they play, usually backed by an opera singer to accentuate the already pretty enormous choruses.
Both of the duo nearly made it as part of Duran Duran aping act Daggers, but now it’s just the two of them, Theo Hutchcraft and Adam Anderson have clearly decided that in their second attempt at bandom, they will do things their way. Their way is one of exactness and decadence, with lavish videos, sharp suits and videos that look more like fashion adverts than new band promos. Slicked hair and stilted poses meet with the mournful bits of the eighties, only smoother and with better lyrics. If you come across them by accident, as many will, then it’s impossible not to be swept along by their songs.
New single “Wonderful Life” is a completely enchanting and enthralling track, mostly because it really shouldn’t work. Telling the story of a man’s attempt at suicide on the Severn Bridge over a bombastic backdrop, straight out of the Ultravox back catalogue, should be a recipe for complete and total disaster. But it’s not. It’s graceful throughout, with a swirling instrumental section and an chorus the postman will have no trouble humming. Whether you’re hearing it for the first or fifteenth time you can’t help be spellbound by it, every nuance is arresting, challenging and invigorating. It’s brilliant.
Hurts will either have a long, sustained career of classy pop songs or burn out in glorious, decadent failure. Each one will be just as fascinating to watch.
Check out their new single here:
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