7/10

While Frankie & The Heartstrings have been fairly quiet musically since their 2013 album 'The Days Run Away', the band have actually spent the last few years recharging the music scene in their hometown of Sunderland by opening up a record store in the city's redundant Tourist Office. The irony being that huge names have now begun to play in the store since then and the band themselves are looking to run off that positive energy with the release of their third studio album 'Decency'.

Now with The Futureheads guitarist Ross Millard a full-fledged member of the new Heartstrings, the band's sound has become far more relaxed than before. Their earlier records always had this shade of ill-confidence about them, but now it seems that the group have really come into their own and the resulted is a far more relaxed sounding listen.

Perky and uplifting throughout, 'Decency' has certainly seen these Northern darlings emerge from their previous shell of "just another indie band" into a group with a clear and focused mission. The record brims with happiness and the band have left their pretences at home.