The Futureheads

Powers Strong return by cerebral pop merchants of Sunderland. It’s seven years since The Futureheads departed with an album of a cappella folk songs, a move in keeping with their outsider status among their ’00s post-punk renaissance contemporaries; lesser known was frontman Barry Hyde’s breakdown and bipolar diagnosis. Thrusting single Jekyll sews up any loose ends in style – who else sounds like Fugazi playing The Flying Pickets? – but elsewhere they expand into new territories. The pro-EU Across The Border redresses the perception of Sunderland epitomising Brexit (the city’s thriving DIY music scene is rarely credited), the moving Electric Shock incorporates joyous synths and Headcase is berserk thrash-pop brilliance. Dizzying closer Mortals, meanwhile, might have been a Top 10 hit in the early ’80s, when punk and sophisticated pop collided. With their singular combination of complex arrangements and galvanised clatter, The ’Heads have surely earned their place in the canon of celebrated and savvy artrock originals. Ben Myers