Sometimes when you wait so long for an album to arrive, it doesn’t quite meet your expectations. Be it a dud track, being too long, too short, quite messy in the middle. It’s extremely deflating, your excitement is completely and utterly zapped & it’s lucky if you ever decide to give the band or artist another listen.
Ever so thankfully, Fickle Friends doesn’t have this problem at all. Their debut album You Are Someone Else came out on Friday. You may have noticed me speaking about it once or twice over the weeks, with songs featuring in various CONTROLRadioUK articles.
The album has been glued to my playlist since its release, been listened to roughly 4 times and it is absolutely superb. It’s made up of 16 tracks and to be honest it could’ve been made up of 26 or 36, and I would still love it.
The album opens on ‘Wake Me Up’ which was chosen for our most recent 5 picks, and I said then it is the best track Fickle Friends has made so far. I completely stand by that statement. ‘Wake Me Up’ is the perfect song to open the album on. It’s such a breath of Pop air and really sets the tone for the rest of the album.
Following on is ‘Glue’ which was first released back last year. I love the guitar string that runs throughout the song, and just how up tempo and positive it is. Next up is ‘Swim’, which was released all the way back in 2014. I absolutely adore the chorus, and again it’s got that guitar string that runs through which just makes you want to get up and dance.
The album then moves into non-previously released songs territory with ‘Bite’ first up, and the song very much lives up to its title. It reminds me a bit in places of an 80’s song that I can’t quite place. It’s so funky, with a great drum beat and a small instrumental interlude which breaks the bridges up from the choruses. Next is ‘Hard To Be Myself’ which is slightly more moody in its tone, and one of my favorite tracks on the album. ‘Lovesick’ is an up-tempo post break-up song, tinged with attitude that will resonate with a lot of people.
‘Say No More’ is another of my favorites and again filled with 80’s vibes. It’s a song that is perfect for those long and windy trips through the countryside, and weekend party playlists. ‘Heartbroken’ as the title suggests is another song dealing with, well heartbreak. Except this time it’s hating being heartbroken, and the lyrics are packed with attitude that the music backs up.
‘In My Head’ is the shortest song on the album and a rare ballad to slow the tempo down from the non-stop party. It tackles an extremely interesting subject, and not surprisingly, is another of my favorites. When I look at the Artists & Bands who I count as my favorites and basically glued to my playlist, there’s one thing that they all have in common and that’s versatility.
In any walk of life you need to be more than a one trick pony, none more so than the music industry which is a constant changing landscape. One minute heavy metal is popular, the next country music and the day after that dance. If you can only make music in one genre, you’re not going to be around very long, and not only do Fickle Friends deliver a ballad, but an extremely powerful one at that.
‘Rotation’ turns the tempo back up as we step into the second part of the album. It’s keeping with the poppy feel that the album has, but the music feels different. ‘Rotation’ has more of a focus on the musical elements, with the lyrics somewhat taking a back step in a good way. It keeps the music and album feeling fresh, which is extremely important when it’s made up of 16 tracks.
‘Hello Hello’ isn’t quite a ballad, but it’s also not quite an up-tempo number. It’s well and truly in the middle and I love it, which is somewhat surprising considering I really didn’t think much of the video. It reminds me in places of something The Naked And Famous would produce. ‘Paris’ continues to sit firmly in the middle, and is again among the albums shorter tracks.
Which is another thing I have to praise. Songs that sit firmly in the middle of being a ballad and up tempo numbers are perfect to fill time in an album when done right. Don’t make them too long that they become pointless to listen to, and don’t make them too short that it’s obvious they’re just there to fill time, and still do something useful with them. Fickle Friends tick all these boxes here.
Whilst ‘Wake Me Up’ is probably the best track Fickle Friends have made so far, ‘Brooklyn’ is without a doubt my favorite song of theirs so far. It’s one of the first songs I came across of theirs, and still 2 years after its release it feels fresh, and I’m not bored of dancing and singing a long to it. The chorus is catchy as hell and quickly sticks in your head, and musically the song is an absolute delight.
‘Midnight’ dips its toes into the Pop/Dance/Rock waters and I love it for doing so. It’s an emotional number again tackling the trials and tribulations of romance. If this song isn’t used in a TV show at some point then it’s a wasted opportunity. ‘She’ is the penultimate song on the album. It’s a bit of a sombre affair and at this stage, despite being 15 songs in, I’m not ready for the album to end. But all good things have to and finish it does with ‘Useless’. I honestly think it’s the perfect song to end the album on. It’s a perfect mix of the Pop/Dance sound the album is bursting with, the lyrics are deliciously shady in places whilst standing in the face of heartbreak.
All in all ‘You Are Someone Else’ is an absolutely terrific album. At 16 songs it is probably quite lengthy compared to the norm, but I love it even more for that, especially when you take into account how long this album has been in the works. There isn’t one bad or filler track, and it’s pop-tastic heaven.
Really, what more can you ask for?
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