The cover of Hurts' second album suggests the worst. The typography has remained the same and again a serene portrait of the duo should convince us to purchase this record. The debut (2010) attracted enough people in home country England for a gold record and on the European mainland it went well too. In particular, Germany (double platinum), Poland (platinum) and Switzerland (platinum) fell for
… the pair. Happiness is succeeded by Exile; after happiness, then comes exile. And where may Messrs Hutchcraft and Anderson have been banished to? A country where straight synth-pop is not very successful, if you may believe this CD. Hurts sounds a lot more common than you might expect. This is mainly due to the guitars that the group sometimes moves towards orPush . Fortunately, Exile is not a repetition exercise. It remains to be seen whether Hurts will connect with an even larger audience, or just alienate fans from the very beginning. (JE)more
