Hard-Fi - Killer Sounds

There needn't be too much imagination required to observe how fickle the UK indie press can be with a band: Hard-Fi have gone from the hot up-and-coming "thoroughly innovative, post-Millennial urban horrorscape" to... somewhere off the radar entirely. But anyone around in 2005 and 2007 will have been aware of some rather decent singles in the way of "Ready for the Weekend", "Cash Machine" and "Hard to Beat", so it's not like they were an entirely random phase (see: Art Brut). With Killer Sounds, though, the band are in a hard-to-come-by experimental phase and the record has electropop (probably thanks to producer Stuart Price), disco funk and even a dollop of Primal Scream.

So we'll start off with the scream. Single 'Good for Nothing' was a pleasant surprise to just about everybody - snowballing airplay from Zane Lowe and Soccer AM (perhaps predictably) - with its almost Beastie Boys instrumental dominated by percussions and rhythm sections that clash and ebb for fun, before the killer chorus grabs attention. One should always be wary of albums that begin with their two singles in chronological order, since they're suspect of "oh we'll shove these in first and by then they've bought it, so it's too late really". Canny strategics aside, 'Fire in the House' is a surprisingly dancy interlude for the band that I'm struggling to recollect in their history. A thudding synth helps drum in some fun choruses and riffs for a bit of a Killers feel. Never a bad thing. 'Give It Up' then screeches into view (or sound, since 'view' is an entirely different sense altogether), with a shade of disco about it thanks to its rhythms and synthesised strings in the background (think Sophie Ellis-Bextor remixed into Hard to Beat). Again, it's executed well and the end result is a catchy, decent track.


There's a return to convention on 'Bring It On' which, whilst somewhat unremarkable, does well to reaffirm the band's signature sound after such an eclectic introduction. Which is really a polite way of saying "this isn't really anything special". Perhaps the most unusual experimentation though is seen on 'Feels Good' with an electronic sitar hook that, for me, feels more annoying than appealing. Nonetheless, the rest of the track has a genuinely summery vibe that's always welcome, and the hook isn't too intrusive. 'Stop' then chants its way into focus with unnerving sound effects in the background that might make Muse blush. A xylophone even finds its way into the chorus. It's fun, no doubt, but by now fans are either desperately clinging at fabrics for some sense of cohesion or have just given up in favour of a Moroccan pub-disco. They're all the rage, I hear.

'Stay Alive' follows in 'Bring It On''s footsteps with much of the sounds and aesthetics that they brought to our attention on Stars of CCTV - and the chorus certainly matches up to some of their career highs. Quite where electro-dance fits into the Hard-Fi mission objective is lost on me, but 'Excitement' insists on finding its way onto the album. Imagine last year's Gorillaz track 'Glitter Freeze' but if Damon Albarn had bottled it at the last minute and turned the volume down to 5. Yeah. Not very exciting at all. However, their foray into dance is much more accomplished on 'Love Song' with its clear Daft Punk influences and subtler approach.

And just when you think you've heard them do everything, 'Sweat' is an (obviously subtle) attempt at grime/dancehall supremacy - sounding far more Hot Chip than Hard-Fi. The drums are a little similar to Dizzee Rascal's Fix Up, Look Sharp as well, which is another layer of surprise. For the final track the band go all acoustic in the poppiest of all sopfests ("My best friend died tonight", Archer announces) and whilst it is indeed quite schmaltzy it's again catchy enough to be pulled off.


So whilst the cool kids have somewhat flocked away from Hard-Fi, their third outing seems to me to be their most universally appealing. Of course there's something dreadfully un-hip about trying to cater for all audiences, if you care about that sort of thing, but Killer Sounds is essentially what they're advertising. A broad variety of interesting, unusual influences and genres that, whilst not necessarily thematic or cohesive, make for a far more convincing "who gives a fuck!" argument than Beady Eye. Yeah I went there.

Rating: 7/10
Highlights: Stay Alive, Sweat, Love Song, Good For Nothing, Fire in the House
Avoid: Bring It On, Excitement

Artwork Watch: 4 brightly-coloured skulls looking in different directions. Death, pop, artistic differences, band fractions? Or an entirely random image? I'm leaning towards the latter.