Frankie & The Heartstrings - The Days Run Away

Frankie Francis first showed his face in 2011, Heartstrings in tow with debut album ‘Hunger’, the catchier-than-you-want-it-to-be title track proving the highlight (and finding its way on to a fast food TV advert on the way). It was a nice slice of indie pop, and ‘The Days Run Away’ is almost a straightforward sequel to this; a ‘Hunger’ bonus disc, if you will. Not much has changed. Musically, it’s a competent and impressive performance. ‘That Girl, That Scene”s Ramones-esque guitars will incite many a head nod and foot tap. There are elements of The Strokes and The Smiths here, and even flashes of R.E.M on ‘She Will Say Goodbye’.

But bar almost embarrassing ‘slowie’ ‘Losing A Friend’, the guitars all blend in to each other throughout the album’s eleven tracks, making the lyrics the most distinguishable part. This doesn’t work to Frankie & The Heartstrings’ advantage; they’re far from profound. When ‘That Girl, That Scene’ is overset with the opening line ‘I’m not the kind of guy that likes to take it slow / I’m not the kind of guy you want your mum to know,” it’s hard to take them seriously. In ‘First Boy’, Frankie muses about “patiently standing at the tube station / I thought you were fashionably late, so I waited.” The kind of ‘waiting for a friend’ story everyone can relate to, yeah?

‘The Days Run Away’ is a simple, pleasant, good-at-what-it-does indie pop album, but nothing spectacular.