Listen to this track from North-East England frenetically inclined four-piece the Futureheads.  It’s their take on the 1985 Kate Bush classic ‘The Hounds of Love’, a song taken from her album of the same name, and appearing on the eponymous 2004 debut The Futureheads, for this band. Never has a less macho take on love been represented by a group of guys from a tough, working-class region of Britain.

Around the time this record came out, there was something of a late 70s-early 80s post-punk revival going on, which was fine with me since this is something of a favourite period for me personally.   And this record, and this song, was one of the standouts, influenced as it is so clearly by the kinds of sounds pioneered by Gang of Four (who’s Andy Gill threw his hand in production-wise on selected tracks), Wire, and early XTC.

One of the hallmarks of this era as carried over by the Futureheads of course is their voices, which are presented here in their own accents; a classic example of the punk rock ethos. But, there’s more to the vocal strengths of this band than their unique accents. Read more