This debut album from the St Alban’s trio has been two years in the making. Therefore, I think we can assume there’s been no desperate rush to clamour to the dizzy heights of indie superstardom – for this band it’s been Countdown, computer games and pot noodles all the way. It’s so Hollyoaks isn’t it? Yet with a garage-produced debut album, you’d at least expect some slip-ups. Perhaps the sound of speeding cars in the background? Or Mum and Dad returning to find their home infiltrated with a party? Not this time.
Two years down the line and their ‘laissez-faire’ attitude hasn’t lost them any fans either. No one’s usurped them in the ‘ones to watch’ polls. Instead, it seems everyone’s been hankering for their debut offering. So what of it?
Well there’s a whole lot of synth-guitar mastery for starters. First track, ‘Jump In The Pool’ hauls things up right from the word ‘go’. Produced by Paul Epworth, it’s the only track on the album to have the professionals meddle with it. What’s more, it sounds good for it; among the entire album, it’s the definite single.
Aside from that, this album practically reeks of summer. It’s so full of ethereal tracks and ‘blissful shoegaze guitars’ (their words, not mine) that you wouldn’t mind if the kids in the tent next door played it all night at a summer festival. It’s a lilting, beat-ridden album that marries chill-out with its arch-enemy, upbeat. With nods to everything from the German techno label, Kompakt (on ‘White Diamonds’) to punk funk grooves (on ‘The Hospital’), it’s fair to say it encompasses a pretty broad spectrum of indie-dance.
Born of commuter-belt boredom, it’s doubtful Friendly Fires will be ditching their guitars for a suit and tie anytime soon. The lucky bastards.
iLiKETRAiNS DEMO OF THE WEEK:
ISTVAN & THE KOSMAS / DISCO CLUB IMPERIAL
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