The duo’s history is pretty funny: they met outside
the bar while their friends started a fight but Teo Hutchcraft and Adam Anderson were too drunk to
fight, instead they decided to talk about music. Their tastes unexpectedly
matched and they decided to form a band called Bureau which existed for a year. After disbanding Hutchcraft and
Anderson formed the band Daggers, that
was pretty popular and even won the Popjustice £20 Music Prize. After the split
on 30th January 2009 Hurts appeared.
Hurts are a British synthpop duo formed in 2009 in
Manchester, England. The duo consists of a vocalist Teo Hutchcraft and
synthesist Adam Anderson. Their debut album Happiness
was a great success: they topped many music charts in Europe, and despite
being not so popular on their homeland, the Europe and Russia especially really
loves them.
Their second album Exile
was released in 2013 and acclaimed a great success as well. Despite not having
a hit like Wonderful life from their
debut album, critics acclaimed Exile
as a very good follower. The album consists of 12 songs in official version + 2
songs from Deluxe Edition. The duo participated in writing lyrics and composing
all of the songs. The album has a more Depeche Mode sound as well as it’s more
dark than their debut one, the name Exile
justifies the mood of the whole album.
The first track in the album is called Exile. It is a very good track for the
Intro. The bas-guitar and drums help warm up the listener before next songs:
“So we’ll say
goodbye girl
And watch as
the world burns
This is exile
We’re in exile”
The repetition of the word exile gives a kind of hypnotizing feeling and this track is like a
beginning of a disaster that we will meet with good music and a pair of
handsome British men.
The next track is Miracle
– the lead single from the album. It has a very light and flourish vibe. It’s sunny – the perfect song for spring and summer time but the lyrics give a
completely different feeling. As it usually happens the love destroyed
everything:
“Look at all of
the damage you have done in time
You can see
what a savage I’ve become, in my eyes”
As well as Miracle
the song Blind has a sunny vibe but
the song is about break-up – a not very funny occasion. This is the feature of
Hurts: they can sing about sad things but the melody will fool you. Despite
being my of my most favourite from the album I find the lyrics pretty funny: The
man cries, that after they broke up he sees and hears the girl everywhere but
if they meet he prefers to “turn to stone”
because he understand, that she is “better
off alone” – what kind of logic is that? Then he asks to “cut his eyes and leave him blind”, so
that he doesn’t see the cruelty of their decision. Maybe I take it too
seriously but, in my opinion, this is too much of a sacrifice for a person. But
let’s go back to the bright side: the beat and the chorus are very catchy,
especially the part: Oeoeo-eoeo –
this thing really stucks in your head for weeks. As to the melody – the guitar
plays the main role here and in the end of the song produces a really calming
sounds, like everything is good, despite being bad.
The next song in the album is Sandman which is a metaphor for a dream.
According to Hurts: “us trying to work out if we could make a song
that sounded like Hudson Mohawke, but as a pop song”. Hudson Mohawke is an
electronic music producer famous for his genre-smashing productions. Sandman as well has an electronic upbeat
and a choir in the end of a song, which is really calming. There is one more
song in this album that includes choir – Help.
An interesting fact is that the choir consists of Hurts’ fans. What
makes the song special – is the piano part that is played by Sir Elton John and the piano – is
what made me fall In love with this song. And the choir – is the cherry on the
cake. This song must be listened to with eyes closed – the harmony of the piano, the guitar, and the choir will take you away from reality: "Cause I just need some help". Somehow Hurts know how to do this.
Only you is the most critically acclaimed
song from the album and is said to be the best. It has an electro-sound, a
catchy beat – it is a party-friendly song. The theme about love and
relationship that started in Miracle and
Blind continues in this song but this time it’s all about good things:
contributing to each other’s lives and that: “only you can set me free” and without her he will “comatose each waking hour of life”. Sometimes
love does very great things. The song Cupid has the same electro-sound song with repetitive lyrics: I’ll never let you go – which is perfect
for parties and the electro-guitar contributes to the party feeling.
The Road starts with a slow, sexy, calm singing - like the vocalist is about to fall asleep, but then comes the chorus – a growl-like
with strong beats but then we turn back to calm telling. The construction of the song is very
interesting: there is
transition
between slow and calm sounds and more dark-like audacious sounds. You feel like you are on a cemetery where in the beginning the
ghost is talking to you but then the whole cemetery rises up and tells you a
story about The Road. The lyrics of the song is dark as well and it ends with electro-guitar
solo.
Mercy – is one of the most loved songs of
the Hurts fandom: M-E-R-C-Y – every fan knows this letters
and during concerts it really sounds like a kind of a sect gathering. The dark
vibe and strong melody of Mercy
continues The Road history and The Crow takes the lead next. It is the
deepest song in the album musically and lyrically. It has no repetition and upbeats.
The song tells the story about the girl who is being called The Crow. But she isn’t a good bird –
she is an evil crow: “frozen hand takes
your breath away”, “she spread her wings and they black out the sun”, “bright
eyes, black soul, she’ll never let you go”, “she’ll leave when the damage is
done”. Listening to these 3 songs one after another puts you in vacuum, you
just dissolve in the atmosphere that the melody, the voice and the lyrics create.
Somebody to die
for – one of
the best Hurts’ songs of all time. No wonder it became the third single from
the album. The song is pretty simple – it is about dying for someone, it’s
about pure love: that the man can take you from the fire, drag from the ocean,
the life means nothing if you don’t have somebody to die for. This is what
makes the song special. He’s not even afraid to look the devil in the eye and
let him know that “he was brave enough to
die”. The beat of the song and the choir
(again) create an atmosphere of pure happiness and carelessness.
The Rope – is a classical soft-rock song but
with a metaphor that the rope is the life – It is long and strong and there
will be always someone to pull you out of bad times. This song is not for
listening, but for thinking about the lyrics and its true meaning.
Honestly, I’ve never paid attention to the 2 tracks
from the deluxe version which are Heaven
and Guilt, because after Somebody to Die For and Help I just
can’t return to the album – they absorb without residue. But for the review I
listened to them and I must say that Guilt
– is something magical - calm melody with deep lyrics. It gives a feeling of the last breath - a perfect finishing song for the album.
In conclusion, Exile – is a great
album that shows that the duo can change, can develop, can grow. And I will be
forever thankful to them for reviving the synthpop genre and being a worthy
representative of the 80th’s music.
Viktoria Kudrenko
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