Last month it was impossible to move without being confronted by a ‘sound of 2010’ roll-call, dictating our soundtracks for the next year. For some, acclaimed debuts and sold out tours await, but many will sink without a trace. Even for the successful, it will be the second album, released without the novelty of a fresh face, that will be the true test of star quality. In the next few months some of yesteryear’s most hyped are releasing highly anticipated follow-ups that could make or break their careers. Vampire Weekend have already proved with Contra that their brand of ska-indie crossover has enough depth to impress second time round. Two notable acts in the recent ‘vaguely folky troubadour’ resurgence, Laura Marling and Fionn Regan, are also releasing second attempts in the next fortnight and their first singles suggest both are embracing a change in direction, a step that makes sense creatively but risks alienating fans.
The phrase ‘Difficult Second Album’ has become handy for journalists wishing to pithily dismiss last year’s hyped without breaking a sweat. For many of the sound of 2010 nominees, their first albums will be a career peak. After teenage years spent locked in gloomy bedrooms absorbing Kate Bush (Marina and the Diamonds maybe…) and adding strangers on MySpace, suddenly these bright young things appear to have hit the big time. The music press heralds an era defining sound, NME wonders where you got that striking blazer from and the summer festivals beckon. But it is two years later, with every potential top ten hit squeezed out of that lovingly crafted debut album when the trouble begins. A year of touring and introspective interviews isn’t conducive to song writing. Musicians previously styling themselves as the voice of their generation find that a year messing about on a tour bus has left them with nothing to say.
Some second album slumps have become so infamous that they’re hard to recount without a shudder of disappointment. The Stone Roses’ eponymous debut was greeted with a wave of acclaim from critics hailing it as the sound of rave culture, but its follow up, released after years of infighting, proved a crushing anticlimax and they were swiftly overshadowed by another batch of Mancunian chancers, a modest outfit called Oasis. Fickle fans often tire of a band before they can attempt new material. The Darkness failed to replicate the success of Permission To Land, despite sticking with the ‘falsetto and spandex’ formula. For those hyped to the point of exhaustion, there is horribly far to fall. Few would describe The Strokes’ Room On Fire as an eye-gouging failure, but it regularly appears in polls of disappointing follow-ups mainly because their debut, This Is It, almost singlehandedly sparked the ‘skinny jeans and guitar’ template that has become an indie cliché.
The second album stigma didn’t always exist. In the 60s and 70s, it wasn’t rare to release two albums a year and career peaks tended to emerge much later. The Beatles’ seminal Revolver was their seventh release and Pet Sounds was the Beach Boys’ ninth. All the great acts of those years endured career slumps (just ask Bob Dylan what he was doing in the 80s) but the momentum allowed these artists to coast through their weaker moments. This evidence makes our insatiable appetite for the new rather worrying. What if we are discarding talent that might only emerge five albums down the line?
For those whose debuts receive a cooler response, the second album seems less of a hurdle. Both Nirvana’s Nevermind and (What’s The Story) Morning Glory by Oasis were second albums that eclipsed their predecessors. The Horrors proved to be more than just cut-out Goths last year when Primary Colours found its way onto the Mercury Shortlist. And there are always those who embrace hype as a challenge. Arctic Monkeys made the daunting feat of following the fastest selling British debut ever look almost easy with the unapologetic Favourite Worst Nightmare that offered more of the same without looking like a tribute act.
So does the second album slump exist at all? Or is it just an excuse from musicians disappointed by the sudden loss of glory? For last year’s most hyped the evidence is inconclusive. We’ll have to wait for the follow-ups from the Florences and La Rouxs of 2009 before we can get clues as to the fate of the Ellie Gouldings and Delphics of 2010.