Frankie and the Heartstrings, kings of the explosion of Indie bands proud to be from the North East demonstrated their interpretation of cool Indie Pop at the Cockpit in Leeds last Thursday, supported by Cleveland, Ohio based Cloud Nothings and Leeds’ own Blood Oranges. Although both supports were enjoyable I came away with a certain level of disappointment over Frankie and the Heartstrings’ laid back approach and felt thoroughly underwhelmed after the hype they have recently been accredited.

Indie pop champions Blood Oranges were the first on stage. I have had a growing admiration for the band since catching their surprising support of The Vaccines at York’s Stereo and their debut single launch at Nation of Shopkeepers. Trialing a selection of new and unheard tracks, the band played a short but sweet 25 minute set, with their distinctive mixed sex vocals and their usual tales of love and lust. Second on stage were Cloud Nothings, and after the first few tracks they seemed nothing more than a terrible copy of other much better American alternative artists, such as We Are Scientists or Weezer. Yet, to give the band some credit, as their set continued the lead singer’s fast and chaotic sounds and lyrics became rather interesting and I came to particularly enjoy ‘Even If It Worked Out’.

The main act came on stage and I looked around the audience, to my surprise The Cockpit seemed unusually empty, Frankie and the Heartstrings were unable to fill maybe three quarters of the venue despite the hype attributed to them. The bands almost laid back approach seemed a little disconcerting, and the small audience itself lacked generally in energy, with floppy haired lead singer Frankie Francis remarking “God its quiet in here”. At one point the drummer asked if we were judging them, and honestly I don’t think the audience was even doing that. Despite a few ecstatic fans right at the front, the crowd didn’t seem fully engaged with the band, demonstrated by the lackluster participation in the usually crowd pleasing chants of ‘Hunger’.

The musical simplicity of the band is commendable as is their 80s style, with Frankie Francis’s prancing around stage describable as nothing less than theatrical. Although the lyrics are a little uncomplicated, and the riffs rather similar, I was surprised by the bands more rocky tones, that is to say some heavier or more power guitar riffs than I had come to expect. Yet, unfortunately the set lacked in variety; not even the solemn sound of their new release ‘Fragile’ could overcome their over reliance on dancey pop.

The French Word For Love by Blood Oranges

Cloud Nothings “Should Have” by carparkrecords
01 Fragile by Hugh Porter

HUNGER by FRANKIE & THE HEARTSTRINGS by leithrecords