An emotional album for the Beast boys ...

Hyde and Beast return with their most emotionally heavyweight recordings to date in the shape of second studio album Keep Moving, released on August 4. The duo – The Futureheads’ Dave Hyde and Neil Bassett of The Golden Virgins – have been through the mill in the past 12 months, a tough time which has informed their sound.

“It’s been a difficult time for us,” said Neil, talking from his Sunderland studio.

“We’ve both been through relationship break- ups and I’ve lost someone close to me. All that came out in the album.

“The songs are very happysounding, but the mood is melancholic – kind of like The Jackson 5’ s I Want You Back, or Tears Of A Clown by Smokey Robinson.”

Their debut album, 2011’ s Slow Down married the Beach Boys’ pop smarts to low- fi psychedelia, orchestral arrangements and quirky rhythms.

The songwriting was done in a haze.

“We were clowning around, getting a bit drunk and whatnot,” said Dave. “We thought we’d make two copies of the album – one for me and one for Neil.”

The subsequent recordings gathered momentum once the band teamed up with some fans in the music industry to form their own label Tail Feather Records.

“We knew we were going to make a second record,” said Neil.

“When we made the first one and someone said they wanted to release it, we thought they were nuts, but it was nice to know that people liked it. The thing is, Keep Moving was the first album we’ve made where we’ve known we were making a record, so it’s been a more serious process.

“There was more pressure. It wasn’t so much of a party for me making this one as Slow Down was, which was just … well, a party.”

Speaking about track Open Your Heart, which features on the new record, Dave said: “It’s got the lyric, ‘ Would you Adam and Eve it?/ Believe that it’s true/ I could never believe it when you said we were through.’

“It’s asking someone to open up and let it out, to talk – it’s about breaking up with your missus.”

Meanwhile Like I’m Grass displays vaudeville rhythms.

“We leaned on that sound in the first album too,” said Neil.

“The recurring theme was the soundtrack to the musical film, Bugsy Malone. It’s a sound that carries a certain rhythm – slightly vaudeville, slightly jazzy.”

coincide with the release of the album, Hyde and Beast will play a series of live dates: Stockton Weekender on July 27, Split Festival in Sunderland on August 9, Bernicia Festival in South Tyneside on August 30 and Middlesborough Live on September 27.

Hyde and Beast will also play their first gig in 17 Months at Newcastle’s Cluny 2 venue on July 24.

They will be playing this show with their full eight- piece live band including a horn section.

Tickets are £ 6 and are available from The Cluny itself, as well as Hot Rats Records and PopRecs in Sunderland and from seetickets. com online.