Hurts – Voices

“I suspect that’s going to be a grower.”

Tom: They’re back!

Tim: Indeed! A load of good stuff came out on Friday; highlights include a decent new Katy Perry track, a new album off KEiiNO (mostly tracks we’ve already heard, but a couple of good new ones), an Alan Walker redo of a Hans Zimmer piece, and this:

Tom: Huh. I suspect that’s going to be a grower. 

Tim: I’m hoping so, yeah – it’s their first new music since 2017’s album Desire, and the problem with Hurts tracks is that they’ve got a lot to live up to. Their first album was packed with so many brilliant tracks like Better Than Love, Wonderful Life, Sunday and Stay, each album since has been topped with great tracks, and they even managed to bring out a Christmas song that you liked.

Tom: It is a genuinely good, emotional, sad Christmas song and I stand by it.

Tim: As well you should. But as for this one… well, there’s nothing I’d really want to change about it, as it’s very definitely a Hurts track, but I can’t help hoping there’s better stuff on whatever album they presumably have coming out soon, as this doesn’t quite do it for me.

Tom: I do like it, for once — it’s not the sort of immediate sit-up-and-pay-attention track that I normally go for, but the whole thing sits pleasantly in the background. Why’s it not work for you?

Tim: Annoyingly I’m not quite sure, so can’t really put it in to words – maybe it’s that it’s leaning too far into heavy beats, with both drums and synthy bass notes, than strong melodies – but whatever it is, it’s definitely missing something.

Tom: Either this is something that I’m going to appreciate more over time — or that repetitive guitar melody that’s underneath most of the track is going to grate and grate more. We’ll see which it is.