For many North East music fans, Frankie & The Heartstrings are the jewel in the crown of the local indie music scene. With 2 successful albums, their own label and even a fully operational record store under their belt, it’s clear that this Sunderland 5-piece refuse to pause for breath in their permanent celebration of profit-free, local music.
Decency, their third studio album to date, immediately strikes the listener as nothing less than the epitome of northern values: laced with an abundance of dry wit and heavy-handed sound, the band seem to have distanced themselves from the heart-wrenching emotion of their debut whilst maintaining that winning trait of discreetly emotive authenticity.
It’s safe to say that they’ve had a couple of line-up changes over the last few years. Since the release of The Days Run Away in 2013, bassist Steven Dennis has been replaced by Michael Matthews (of This Aint Vegas and Sky Larkin fame), while the role of lead guitarist has fallen to Ross Millard of Sunderland’s premier Kate Bush tribute band, The Futureheads. Inevitably, this has led to a shift towards various different musical directions for the group, each of which become apparent as the album progresses. ‘Think Yourself Lucky’, the lead single of the album, sees this in action, as the energetic tones that form the familiar core of the band have been highlighted by a fresh and jubilant instrumental opening, as well as a fast-paced backing vocal that can often be heard in Millard’s previous works. Despite this sense of invigoration from new members, it would be ludicrous to suggest that the album differs vastly from its predecessors; rather, the musical vibrancy of tracks like ‘Not For Pleasure’ simply showcase a cleverly updated variation of the band’s satisfying –and thankfully, pleasantly unchangeable- indie-pop sound.
Lyrically, Decency promises to be an album that softly throws itself to and fro across the emotive spectrum. When paired with a wonderful array of rough-and-ready guitar riffs, simplistic hooks and melodic rhymes succeed in grasping every inch of the listener’s attention, as in the pivotal track ‘Money’. Yet, as always, lead vocalist Frankie Francis utterly succeeds in creating an endless sense of true depth – much like the band’s unforgettable 2011 epic ‘Fragile’, ‘Knife In My Back’ sees soft repetition, subtle percussion and that ever-recognisable guitar riff twang coming together to create a distinct notion of something truly moving.
Some may be quick to dismiss dynamic indie albums as ‘lacking depth’. In this case, I disagree heartily, and would defy any naysayers to recall a record that simultaneously evokes both the vitality of pop, and the well-established profundity of prog-rock, as Decency does.
Words by Emily Ingram