Earnestness, energy and vocal acrobatics

The Futureheads

“News and Tributes” (Vagrant/StarTime International)

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THERE’S something irresistibly infectious about the way these four Brits throw themselves into the vocal harmonies that dominate their music, like a line of lieutenants in a Gilbert and Sullivan scene.

Beyond defining much of the Futureheads’ sound, this technique can provide distinctive emotional shadings to the songs. One especially tart note, for example, injects a pang of pain into the title song, about a 1958 plane crash that killed several members of the Manchester United soccer team.

That lament for the flower of British youth comes from a Sunderland band whose energy and earnestness place it in that tradition, and this second album (in stores June 13) is an advance in both writing and sound from its promising 2004 debut.

Much of its pleasure derives from its playful execution at breakneck speeds. If you play choppy fast enough, it turns out, it becomes smooth. And whatever higher artistic purpose they serve, those vocal acrobatics are fun pure and simple, recalling the Who’s heyday as an eccentric pop band.

The Futureheads’ lyrics don’t have the ambition of Pete Townshend or the emotional complexity of the dynamically similar Franz Ferdinand, but they reveal a healthy skepticism toward modern romance along with an unquenchable optimism. Most important, their music makes everything they say sound terrifically urgent. The group appears June 19 at the Henry Fonda Theatre.

-- Richard Cromelin