We Love the City is a long menu of love/hate letters to the city, London, and also to all the boyfriends and girlfriends you never knew you hated. At one time or another, quite a few of us have been unlucky enough to be in an unrequited love relationship, and at such times we generally feel as though our hearts are empty shells. We Love the City attempts to catalogue that particular emotional colouring, in all its shades (it has no tints). Like blood, the feeling can only congeal and grow darker with the passage of time.
Hefner's general urban/folk style is peculiarly suited to painting these feelings. The constant beat (the drummer seems to pick one and stay with it for the duration of a song, regardless of the percussion instrument being played) and the twangy, thoughtful guitar conspire to bring a surge of purple longings pooling in one's breast, a vast stain of regret and happiness swirled together like lost memories momentarily recovered. Brass instruments -- flugelhorn, trumpets, trombone, sax -- contribute to the music without transforming the mood to a brash or harsh sound. Darren Hayman's funky lyrics bring in a quixotic sense of humour and a more unique take on traditional relationship-style pop music. The humour of the lyrics alone makes this album worth purchasing: "You are my girlfriend, not Molly Ringwald / So why don't you stay the night?" croons Hayman ("We Love the City"). And the weary ennui of the twenty-something club-going citydweller is captured here as well: "This is London, not Antarctica / so why don't the tubes run all night?" Even though this album's true north is constantly surrounding the Thames, the urban problems mentioned here will probably ring true with any Western urban rat. It's easy to slip into a sympathetic grin when Hayman writes of closing public transportation, writing "sixth-form poetry" to a lover or "traffic caus(ing) a roadblock in (your) heart". In addition to the title track, listeners ought to give special attention to "Greedy Ugly People", a softer, more traditional piece of ear-candy pop, and "Good Fruit", in which the brass takes center stage, grabbing your ears with its traffic-light beat.
The one song that leaves me a bit weary is "The Day that Thatcher Dies"; the Clash was enraged by the Iron Butterfly, and rightly so, but Thatcher was forced out in 1990 and it's probably time to move on to newer political rancour. (Does Spitting Image even run anymore?)
Hefner are at their best when they stick to their primary theme, which is love that's been confused, bruised and downright disappointed. "She Can't Sleep No More" sums up the album's push neatly: "She can't sleep no more since he's gone / She didn't love him but she knew he was what she needed." Grab this album, your bottle of single-malt scotch and the biggest water glass you can find, and remember the one that you loved and lost... even if it's just your home city.
(Note: This CD also contains two videos, "Good Fruit" and "I Took Her Love for Granted".)
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