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To the delight of the UK and their crazed fans across most of Eastern Europe, Synthpop duo Hurts have finally returned to the airwaves with their eagerly awaited second studio album Exile.
The Manchester duo's first album Happiness debuted at No.4 in the UK charts and was the fastest-selling debut album of 2010, but fans have been left to wait almost three years for new material . Going back to basics and locking themselves in a room for the past year, Hurts want even bigger and better things for their second record.
We caught up with pianist, guitarist and all round musician Adam Anderson to find out how it feels to be back...
Hi Adam. It's been a while since the last record, how does it feel to be back?
It’s really exciting for us because we've been locked in a room for the last year, working hard on the new record and it’s nice to be free of it. It gets very intense writing songs for us and especially for that length of time. This is a good time now to let go for that and play some shows, so it’s quite exciting.
Happiness did amazingly well, do you have similar hopes for this record?
I think so, yeah. I hope we can continue playing to a lot of people and take it around the world just like last time. We made a record that we are really proud of and we felt we had to get out of our systems.
Do you feel like this album is the one you have always wanted to make?
I think this album was on the cards for a couple of years because we toured for two and a half years. During that time we learnt a lot about our music and the types of songs that worked really well for us live and that became a really important part of who we were. We felt we had to put that into the album and every song on the album is made for playing live.
Hurts appear to evolved its sound without changing too drastically. Would you agree with that?
I think it’s important not to stagnate. I don’t think we wanted to make the same album twice. It would have been easy to slip into the same style of song-writing and production, but we took some risks and really pushed ourselves to make sure we didn't replicate the first one. I think it’s the next chapter in the same book really. It’s not a drastic change, it’s still Hurts, but it’s one step further along.
Watch Hurts video to 'Miracle' below:
Do you feel you struggled with the 'difficult second album' syndrome whilst making Exile?
I’d say probably not really. You can’t really think about that sort of thing when you’re writing songs, you've just got to do the best you can. We have made an album that we felt really painted a true picture of what our life was like preceding it. We always try and make music that is honest and reflects who we are. The first record did that, we had been on the dole for years and it sounds like that. There is sadness in the first album that we really felt and on this album there is a lot of chaos, which is a true picture of what it was like to be on tour for two years.
You've managed to find fans with pop and indie lovers alike. What do you think is the secret to widespread, but credible, acclaim?
Tough question. We never really know what our music means to people. It’s really difficult to try and dissect it. I think we just try and write good tunes. You can put it down to many different things. In some countries they like the darkness of the music in some countries they think we are like the Backstreet Boys or something. Every country takes different things from the music and all you can do is embrace it. It’s hard to pinpoint why that diversity is there, but it’s amazing for us. I think our music is quite hard to pin down, I think there’s a lot of different influences. After the first album we had so many reference points, a lot of people thought we were this or that, but couldn't hit the nail on the head. Hopefully that means we are unique and we stand alone.
How do you think your new songs will go down with Hurts fans?
I think it will be a grower. I think some fans will take to this one over time and that’s how it’s meant to be really. It’s a bit of a journey and I think it will take a while to sink in and hopefully fans will get on board and support it.
Listen to Hurts' new track 'Sandman' below:
You have had huge success across Europe, which country has the craziest fans?
I guess the reaction gets more extreme the further east you go. Germany is obviously our most successful country and we've done some amazing things there. We've played to 60,000 people with just one album. We go to places where other bands don’t go. We did a 10-date tour of Russia and played so many cities where they said no English band had ever even been. When you go to places like that, the reaction is quite extreme because they are just so glad that you have come. It’s like they reward you for coming by giving you amazing shows.
Can we expect to see you at the biggest and best festivals this summer?
We are doing festivals, but I actually don’t know which ones we are doing yet. Last time we did pretty much all of them. I think you’ll definitely be able to see us at most of them.
Other than your album release, what else would you like to achieve this year?
It sounds boring, but really just to continue where we left of last time. It’s a very addictive life we lead, especially in Europe and we did an Asia tour last time, things like that make the tour really special. We just want the same as the first time, but with bigger audiences and more countries. There are a few countries that we haven’t been to yet like Georgia and Turkey that we want to visit. I think we have done 53 countries now.
Hurts second studio album Exile is available now.
