FrYars album Dark Young Hearts is an unusually endearing piece of pop. Part David Bowie with a splash of Spandau Ballet, Frankie Goes to Hollywood and a 2008-9 electro/alternative update, creator Ben Garrett has produced a lyrically thrilling and at times sweetly clumsy debut which has some real personality. The record also projects an arrogance which in any other outfit would turn the listener right off - you can only be arrogant if you're good - but it works through these tracks in a naive, expressively teenage way. Having said that, you wouldn't really want to get on Garrett's bad side given the lyrical daggers he uses. Visitors is a prime example of this attitude, combining a vicious attack on someone somewhere with some spare 80s synths and drums and a Bowie-esque vocal. Happy is a chaotic, uplifting tumble of a tune with some enjoyable drumming and Morning is the kind of Spiritualized type track I wonder why everyone doesn't finish their albums with.
Listening to Dark Young Hearts really wakes you up in a way manufactured plastic pop songs that bleat generically on about 'love that hurts' in a vague and unsatisfactory way never could. This is an interesting collection of stories, elegantly told and woven through some skilfully composed musical backing. A very pleasant surprise.
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