Can't Get Enough.

Of course, what you are to read is a case of taking sides. With Hurts it’s impossible not to take one side (love them) or the other (hate them). Their wet hair, their ‘Tears For Fears shot by Anton Corbijn’ photographs, their sax solos, their lingering 80s synths, their early 90s (electro) pop sensibilities. The Mancunian duo seems to love making it hard for some to accept their sheer existence, not to speak of their work. With the others, the ones who love them, and here personal experience is of high value, Theo Hutchcraft and Adam Anderson’s debut, Happiness, can only bring joy and make volumes go all the way to the max. Singing along included.

The record hits you full speed, merciless, with Silver Lighting, grand gothic cathedral choirs, the sorts that would make Depeche Mode blush, echoing vocals and expansive synths. It seems to be written with the sole purpose of making you fall in love with it. The slow-disco and urgency of Wonderful Life and the atmospheric Blood, Tears & Gold are naturally present on the LP, here to hunt your days furthermore.

While Sunday’s synths that echo DM’s Can’t Get Enough prove to be an explosion of glee, Stay with its backing vocals, lush vocals and Take That scented chorus turns to be one of the records most emotional down moments. “Say goodbye in the pouring rain and I break down as you walk away” lingers on, making it impossible for this track not to become your new favourite power ballad, the one you shouldn’t call a guilty pleasure as theatrical as it might be.

Illuminated opens the second half of Happiness, a half as theatrical and shameless in search of grandeur as Stay. Both this song and Evelyn reveal a certain sexuality and sensuality with every guitar, every pounding drum, every racing harmony, that make them wonderful examples of perfect pop tunes craftsmanship.

The bombastic Better That Love could be the album’s most fast-paced moment, a delightful DM tribute, the high-pitched vocals and swirling synths, the exact drums and crescendo guitars making it hard to believe that anyone could deny the sheer genius of this piece. Which is true about Devotion as well, a magnificent and extremely sexy pop gem featuring Kylie Minogue (her best work this year, hands down). Crystal clear, her voice and Theo’s sweep everything in their way, the cinematic melody leaving little doubt to how talented Hurts are.

Unspoken is, to put it simply, one of the best break up songs, a majestic track that’s beauty is only enhanced by the chord arrangement and steady rise of the melody. Water feels like Stay’s twin, just as unashamed to embrace boy band aesthetics and pop grandeur. It’s also makes for a wonderful album exit as it wraps up pretty much everything Hurts are about: lack of irony, a love for pop with all that is means, impeccable song writing, expansive melodies.

And sure there are quite a few pop clichés here and many too much unaltered love of pop (hidden track Verona is something you’d want to skip), but Happiness provides many of this year’s finest irony-free pop moments and it genuinely feels like a time machine back to the golden 80s, no apologies. It could fit in with any of that decade’s classics, but it works just as wonderfully as a reason to make us, 20-something year olds, feel proud of this decade.