Exile by Hurts Review

Hurts have sung with Kylie Minogue and now they have Elton John playing piano for them. With such well known fans the pressure for Manchester duo Hurts’ second album to do well is even greater.

With a huge following throughout Europe and their debut album Happiness selling over a million copies worldwide, there is a large expectation for Exile to be just as successful.

Like their debut album Happiness, sophomore album Exile is full of overly earnest lyrics and big emotion. Listening to their music is like listening to a soapie melodrama put to music. Unlike Happiness, Exile has more of an edge, it’s darker.

It’s obvious they didn’t want to make a carbon copy of Happiness and have tried to develop their sound more. While they still sound like an 80’s East German synthpop duo there is now an edge to their music.  There is more variety in the instrumentation, less of a reliance on synthesisers and more on guitars and pianos.

The beginning of the title track is reminiscent of Muse, while songs like The Crow and Sandman sound a little like My Chemical Romance. Miracle is the only song that comes close to capturing the same infectious and catchy beat of their standout single Wonderful Life from Happiness.

Yes it’s different but there is still enough of the stylish monochrome sound that fans have come to expect from them for this album to be just as successful, if not more, as their debut.