The album everyone was waiting for felt much better waiting for than actually hearing. Granted, the deck was stacked against FF — their self-titled debut was damn undeniable; every song could’ve been a single. With this, each song sounds more like a conscious effort to sound like “Franz Ferdinand” than a band that actually flowered through a more natural creative process. And seriously, enough of the Diddley beat already — you ain’t Bo, and they ain’t gonna name the beat after you. And if you sing “Do you wanna?” in a song, don’t call it “Do You Want To?” More often than not, there’s a feeling that You Could is the band’s conscious reaction to its media darling status.
Words in song titles — “Evil,” “Villain” and “Heathen” — are really efforts to persuade listeners that they aren’t soft, that they’re not merely fanciful good-boy metrosexuals that even your grandma could love.
No tune here tops any on their debut. That said, it still has some solid, if light-hearted, pop moments. We could have it so much worse.
Ben Blackwell writes about music for Metro Times . Send comments to [email protected].
