Head On

Time was when a drummer would stick to making lots of noise behind the kit and leave the vocals to the guy with the best hair or the tightest arse. Nobody told Graham Hopkins, obviously, and just as well too. The former Therapy? sticksman has stepped away from the drum kit and grabbed the microphone and a Stratocaster. Perhaps surprisingly for anyone who hasn’t seen Graham in his ‘Hopper’ incarnation, the result is more hummable than hardcore, more Belle & Sebastian than Fugazi.

The opener and title track sets out the stall for much of what follows: gently strummed guitars, understated vocals and melodies that creep up and seduce with whispers instead of battering you over the head with a kick-drum. Current single ‘Underneath The World’ is the archetypal grower, a song that sounds pretty on first listen and manages to attach itself limpet-like to your subconscious two days later. The insistent rush of the wonderful ‘Passing Tax’ has the best middle-eight since the Austrian Eurovision entry, incidentally.

Graham’s isn’t the most powerful voice in the world and his vocal chords struggle a tad when things get loud and distorted on the verses of ‘Why Bother?’ For the most part though, his honeyed tones complement the restrained nature of the music, nowhere moreso than on the gorgeous lullaby that is ‘You’re Still Running’, the melancholy ‘Long Way Home’ or the Kittser-esque ‘Flat Fall’.

Hopkins has proved himself a formidable songwriter, with an unerring grasp of what makes a chorus memorable, and Head On is sophisticated chart-friendly fare. I just hope this doesn’t kickstart a spate of drummers getting notions of grandeur.