Hunger

My much spoken of favourites Frankie and the Heartstrings release their debut album Hunger today. I preordered it from HMV and it arrived on Saturday, so I have been listening to it all weekend (amidst all the partying and becoming 21 that I have been doing...more on that tonight). You have to get it. Just, please. Buy it. It is incredible in ways that music does not really tend to be any more. Plus, if you order it from HMV it's only a fiver, and it's free delivery. You can't go wrong.

The Heartstrings are on tour at the moment, and I saw them (again) last Friday as part of my birthday vibes. They completely blew me away. I mean, they always do, but there was something different this time. Me and Hayley were talking about this; the difference in them from when we discovered them supporting Florence and the Machine 14 months ago is astounding. I don't know whether Edwyn Collins has been sprinkling fairy dust on them, or something (he produced the album), but somehow the songs have reached a whole new level of excellent. The new version of 'Fragile', which was already one of my favourite songs of all time ever, is achingly beautiful, and 'Don't Look Surprised' is quite possibly the most perfectly composed song I have heard. It is nice to have a version of 'Possibilities' that I didn't rip off the NME website a year ago on a very questionable internet recording site, and as I always do when I mention F&TH, I highly recommend that you check out the video for 'Tender'. There is some great dancing on there.

I realise that my persistent Heartstrings promotion is getting a bit tiresome, but I really love them and I cannot imagine any band that deserves success and your support more. Hunger is a properly stunning album and I really, really cannot recommend it - and them - enough.