Having served their apprenticeship busking on the underground (“having no money, just going out and doing it”), London singer-songwriters Ben Moorhouse and Leo Duncan recorded their 2017 debut, Hit the Light, as Ten Fé. The accompanying tour found the duo fleshing out their sound with a full band, and they’ve taken that set-up, with Rob Shipley (bass), Johnny Drain (keyboards) and Alex Hammond (drums), into the studio for the follow-up, Future Perfect, Present Tense.
The change in personnel coincides with a definite progression in their sound: the soft-rock influences of their debut are still prominent, but there is a more organic feel, with less emphasis on their earlier synth-pop stylings (although Rob Shipley’s upfront bass does have echoes of mid-80s New Order, particularly on Won’t Happen and No Night Lasts Forever). As Moorhouse told the Indietronica blog: “We’d had Fleetwood Mac, War on Drugs and the like on heavy rotation, so we were going for a classic ‘band’ sound: dynamic, but also lean, tight and pop.”
Recorded with Foals producer Luke Smith, the result is an accomplished stab at the sort of intelligent indie that has brought the 1975 such success, with winning harmonies emphasising their melodic nous and subtle hooks ensnaring the listener.
With major North American and European tours on the horizon, Ten Fé’s busking days are very much a thing of the past.
• Future Perfect, Present Tense is released on Pias on 8 March. Ten Fé’s UK tour begins on 25 April in Edinburgh
