Hard-Fi - 'I Shall Overcome'

It’s impossible to even think that Hard-Fi’s first single of 2008 will not become a mainstay of the public domain after past efforts: whether that is aurally facilitating lager adverts selling conformity to a nation with an ever present habitual drinking problem, or penning a song to the tune of said issue to be played on every generic indie and drive-time play list going.

The fact is, Hard-Fi have forged a career steeped in irony and lacking in moral fibre; their ham-fisted attempts at Clash articulacy and reinvention of sound somehow sold millions in the form of their debut album ‘Stars of CCTV’. They have been happy to sell out from the start, and ‘I Shall Overcome’ shows no change in behaviour for the self-titled demigods of suburban didactics. Perpetually observing social disarray and fiscal worries for influences in no longer an issue for the ever snarling Richard Archer – he has money and a house with security now – so a lacklustre attempt at one’s own personal feelings have been long overdue and ultimately arrives with the excitement of a new family saloon: economic but functionally disappointing.

Released 03/03/08 on Atlantic Records.