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Album Details

• Artist: Head Of Femur
• Album: Hysterical Stars
• Label: Spin Art
• Year of Release: 2005
• ME Rating:
• Reviewed by: dscanland on 2005-07-21

Ben Armstrong and Matt Focht's (also of Bright Eyes) Head of Femur project should get some decent exposure with this nice pop album. The thing I'm afraid of is that they might get lumped into the British new wave revival thing that's going on. On a few songs they do have some similarities to that of Futureheads or Maximo Park. That would be a shame because this is much more diverse than just that small pigeon-hole. Hysterical Stars is the groups second album and first for influential Spin Art. This album reminds me a little of what Marah was trying to do on their flop Float Away With The Friday Night Gods. Marah failed because they relied on glam a little too much. Head of Femur's album is more successful because they rely a little more on other typed of rock to make their music. The band looks to the Beatles and Beach Boys as well as bands like XTC for their influence. Also the Elephant Collective bands are given a nod with the stranger tracks like "The Sausage Canoe". Head of Femur even have very simple pop melodies and short tracks like "Percy", one of the highlights. The band that the guys have assembled are very capable and able musicians. The music is instantly accessible and should be liked by a fairly wide audience, if given the chance. If there are faults to be pointed out, it might be that the vocals are somewhat hard to decipher on a few of the tracks. I'm not sure who is singing what but the dual vocal attack is indeed nice.

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