The Futureheads
Decent Days & Nights
679 Recordings

‘Decent Days And Nights’ is The Futureheads at the peak of their powers; a choppy, Clash-y classic whose brazenly hooky guitars and chant-like vocals belie the clever stuff going on just below the surface. As with most Futureheads songs it’s hard to get a true reading on what exactly they’re banging on about, but the tight mesh of syllables, words and occasional animal yelps, sure is an enthralling place to get lost in. Especially, as in this instance, when the words themselves seem precisely to be about losing your bearings in this world.

“ This is a brand new problem / A problem without any clues / If you know the clues / It’s easy to get through / But you look confused / And you don’t know what to do / It’s hard to give an answer / If you haven’t got a clue / If you work it out / Tell me what you find / We can have a few / Decent days and nights.” And so on and so forth; the world as viewed through indecipherable Kafka-esque dream logic, with The Futureheads struggling to figure out how exactly how this life doo-dah is supposed to operate.

Funny, then, that ‘Decent Days And Nights’ emerges as the Futureheads strongest pop single to date, with a driving riff powerful enough to loosen the stiffest of rock-necks, along with an irresistible sense of building euphoria.

‘Decent Days And Nights’ comes in three formats, including two (count ‘em!) different seven-inch singles, one of which is wholly live from the London Astoria. One of the featured tracks, ‘Remote Control’, tells of the tragic time when the lads were unable to turn their telly over because someone stole (yes, you’ve guessed it) their remote control. What is it with folk these days?

‘Piece Of Crap’ is a Neil Young-borrowing (lyrically only, let’s make it clear) live favourite, which is spat out with considerable Tyneside gusto and considerable urchin-like charm. ‘City Is Here For You’, the other live b-side, is a version of one of the best tunes from ‘The Futureheads’ album.

‘Decent Days And Nights (Bad Acid Mix)’ is an aptly monikered reworking by album producer Paul Epworth, which manages to set Barry’s philosophical musings to a backdrop of bizarre Teutonic electronic squelching, perhaps best described as queasily enthralling.

CD
1. Decent Days And Nights
2. Remote Control

7"1
A) Decent Days And Nights
B) Decent Days And Nights (Bad Acid Mix)

Live 7" (recorded at London’s Astoria)
A) Decent Days And Nights
B1) City Is Here For You
B2) Piece of Crap

The Futureheads eponymous debut album was released by 679 on July 12.

http://www.thefutureheads.com