Pop-rock prize fighters The Zutons have moved up a weight division for their second album. The dense layering and hefty riffs and rhythms mean that this Stephen Street-produced record packs considerably more punch than its predecessor, 2004’s Who Killed The Zutons? However, the heavier sound has had a detrimental effect on the band’s musical mobility. The deftness of touch and pop flexibility that made their debut so endearing is here somewhat lacking. On occasion ponderous and at worst sluggish, Tired Of Hangin’ Around rarely manages to replicate the sheer, unfettered joy evident on songs such as ‘Pressure Point’ or ‘You Will You Won’t’.
Nevertheless, there are moments when they come close. The caffeine-chugging rhythms of ‘It’s The Little Things We Do’, propels the wryly humorous tale of a Herculean hangover following a night of Dionysian excess. The brusque wit of stalkers’ ode, and first single, ‘Why Won’t You Give Me Your Love’ succeeds in extorting the listener’s affections. ‘Valerie’ and ‘Oh Stacey (Look What You’ve Done!)’ were reportedly inspired by singer/guitarist David McCabe’s encounters with some of the band’s more ardent American fans.
Suffused with a luminous attentiveness that is elsewhere absent, they are perhaps this record’s standout tracks. Hopefully, next time around, The Zutons will shed the extra poundage and come back as the lean pop pugilists we all know and love. Not the anticipated knockout, but a points victory nonetheless.