Class Of 2010: Frankie & The Heartstrings

Aaaaaaand finally... when bands come along now touting excitable rock'n'roll, there's always a slight fear in the back of our minds that they might just turn into the Pigeon Detectives if given the wrong hand. Despite recently tour supporting Florence And The Machine, the joy of Sunderland's Frankie & The Heartstrings is that despite some heavyweight backing they seem only set fair on their own course. Their biog calls them a "brand new old fashioned pop band" and this group of people corralled from various local outpost bands (and one you should hold dear to your heart, obviously) are certainly a big pop band, capable of a rabble rousing chorus and riff destined for Soccer AM use. They really wouldn't know or condone an anthem in the modern sense, though. Theirs is an old fashioned alternative rock'n'roll, of Dexys Midnight Runners' projected passion revues and Postcard Records' swinging songs for lovers. You can tell they want to go about things the right way, with their Factory-apeing PopSex Ltd catalogue, lack of songs on Myspace so you have to hunt further evidence down and pleasingly ragged sound, like the mates they are merely getting together to reappropriate this thing we now call indie for its original means. They teem with good vibes to reward effort put in to them.

Frankie & The Heartstrings - Possibilities