New Music: Fickle Friends - Wake Me Up

Have you put an entry against 16th March 2018 in your diary yet? If you haven’t then do so now. The words you need to enter are “You Are Someone Else, Fickle Friends debut album, out today.”

By the sounds of things that album is going to be bangertastic. After all there’s Swim (banger), Glue (banger), Hard To Be Myself (banger), Say No More (banger), Hello Hello (banger) and this one Wake Me Up (also a banger) for starters. Maybe a better title for the album would have been Bangers Volume 1?

One of the things that I’ve really grown to like about Fickle Friends is that underneath the glossy pop productions and euphoric sounding tunes there’s often a layer of emotional fragility in the lyrics and Wake Me Up is no different: “We have got so much, so much to learn. What am I missing? What is it you've heard? 'Cause we are, we are, we are, we are, yeah. We are absolutely failing,” sings Natti. Not at pop songs they aren’t.

Remember. 16th March. All the bangers in one place.

Fickle Friends - Wake Me Up

New Music: Fickle Friends - Hard To Be Myself (Video)

Back in 2014 I wrote a piece about Fickle Friends and their single For You. The post alluded to the fact that whilst the band was doing very well online in terms of attracting lots of blog and website praise they still had a long way to go to achieve any sort of real world success, such as selling lots of tickets for larger shows and developing a real-life fan base. 3 years on from that article it gives me absolute pleasure to see the band continuing to work hard and achieving that success, as a recent sold out show in London’s Kentish Town Forum (2,300 capacity) attests to.

Hard graft and putting the hours in is undoubtedly part of the reason why the band are doing so well, but let’s not ever underestimate the power of a hooky tune, and Fickle Friends seem to be churning them out by the bucket load. Current single Hard To Be Myself might on a casual listen sound like a piece of throw away pop with Natti asking you to ‘party with me’ but a closer listen will find that there’s something deeper going on, with Natti touching on insecurity and anxiety – the idea of being the life and soul of the party, but the reality maybe isn’t quite the same. 

Today the band released a video for the song, which explores these ideas further. Director Daniel Harris explains: “The split-screen concept for Fickle Friends' Hard To Be Myself was built off the structure of ‘Expectation’ vs ‘Reality’, all based around a ‘90s American Frat House party aesthetic. From the beginning of the two narratives, I wanted to create a clear point of difference in the behaviour of our lead, Leo, by directing a left-side character that was relentlessly decisive, unapologetically confident and free from social inhibition versus a right-side character that was uncomfortable in his own skin and nervous. Then we surrounded him with the same character-set in the two different realities, one inside the party and the other on the doorstep, uninvited. These played side by side created a really beautiful juxtaposition. Alongside the narrative, we peppered in a gorgeous telephoto performance of Natti and shots from the band that flow along with the story.”

For lovers of all good pop music around the world, it’s time to enjoy some more Fickle Friends.

Fickle Friends - Hard To Be Myself (Video)

New Music: Fickle Friends - Glue

Pop music is great, isn’t it?

Fickle Friends are great, aren’t they?

Their new song Glue is great, isn’t it?

Breaking More Waves is great, isn’t it?

OK 3 out of 4 truths there.

Taken from the new EP (also called Glue) due for release on August 11th and produced by Mike Crossey (The 1975, Foals, Two Door Cinema Club) Glue is probably Fickle Friends sexiest pop song to date. “So what are we thinking, and what are we here to prove? It's stuffy in public, I guess we should get a room,” sings Natti. “Our lips are like Glue,” she adds. Saucy. OK calm down everyone. No actually don’t, because Glue is dance around your handbag and throw your hands in the air extreme pop fun. Fickle Friends are an indie band who seem to be ever honing their craft to create the perfect 3 minute dance pop banger. Or a pop band getting ever closer to creating the perfect indie dance hit. 

It’s party time.

Fickle Friends - Glue

New Music: Fickle Friends - Hello Hello (Video)

It’s been a real pleasure to see Fickle Friends grow from being a blog sensation (Breaking More Waves was there right at the beginning) to connecting with people outside of the new music internet bubble and getting their songs played on the radio. Latest tune Hello Hello is arguably their biggest banger to date and even challenges the still stupidly hooky Swim for BFF* credentials. Lyrically the song deals with the idea of sticking with someone who has lost sight of who they are and what they’re worth and the video (released yesterday) finds the band taking part in some sort of random instruction audition. I particularly like the ‘he just threw a f*ckin’ chair at me’ moment.

Fickle Friends will be going on tour with The Kooks (a band I can never like because the lead singer once barged into me in a venue, knocking my drink out of my hand, and didn’t even stop to apologise as he strutted on his way) in May, before playing a whole bunch of summer festivals and their own headline show, their largest to date, at The Forum in London in October. 

*Best Fickle Friends

Fickle Friends - Hello Hello (Video)

New Music: Fickle Friends - Brooklyn

It seems a little weird to me that Fickle Friends are still, to most people, considered a new band, but then most people aren't new music obsessives like me (and hopefully you) are they? Mind you it was December 2013 when they first cropped up on Breaking More Waves with the slightly scrappy but charming I Want / You Want - a fair old time ago.  Since then they’ve polished up, conquered the blogs and got signed by a major label. 

Next on their step by step journey comes new song Brooklyn, which certainly doesn’t break the mould in terms of their brand of upbeat danceable indie pop – it’s utterly recognisable as Fickle Friends right from the word go. Yet despite the effervescence of the music, the subject matter is much more serious, with Natti singing about her anxiety - an issue that seems to be being talked about increasingly more, particularly on social media and by musicians and artists. In fact, a fairly recent survey showed that 60% of musicians have had some sort of mental illness (see here) and one of the latest musicians to talk specifically about anxiety is James Arthur (see here).

 “The whole song is metaphorical and kind of talks about anxiety as someone you don’t understand or recognise,” says Natti.  “It’s probably the song that means the most to me because 1 year on I look back at how panicked I was by it all and now, although it’s something that affects me most days, I feel like I’ve got more of a handle on what’s going on in my head.”

Fickle Friends are on tour in the UK later this month, finishing off on the 1st December at Heaven in London.

Fickle Friends - Brooklyn

New Music: Fickle Friends - Cry Baby

Breaking More Waves has been sitting in amongst the participants for the blog thrill ride that has been the Fickle Friends story so far from the very beginning and with new song Cry Baby there’s no stop barrier in place.

Despite (by blog standards) having been around for a while now, Fickle Friends still sound fresh and fine, like the new kids on the block. This one is 100% uptempo and groovy with all the basic things that a pop song needs in their correct places; hummable hooks and melodies, catchy instrumental parts, and something that stands out from the crowd without ever being alienating. Oh and it’s 3 minutes and 6 seconds long, so only 6 seconds off the perfect pop song length. Not bad. 

Fickle Friends - Cry Baby

Fickle Friends - Say No More

Does anyone remember the scene that brought wedge haircuts, pegged trousers and the funk driven bass lines of Level 42 to pop music in the 80’s? Well, Level 42 was never the coolest band on the planet, unless perhaps you were a Pringle cardigan wearing 18 year old in leafy Surrey around that time; but now, if you never have done before, you can prepare to delve deep into the likes of Lessons In Love and Running In The Family, because Fickle Friends new one Say No More brings that Mark King bass-face sound right up to date and it's remarkably good.

Fresh from playing Dials Festival (pictured above), a relatively small 5 venue event that Breaking More Waves helped organise (you can read our thoughts on running a festival using this link), Fickle Friends once again prove that they know how to write a pop song. We suspect this one isn’t just for the trendy pop kids in the know, but the mums and dads as well. Quite possibly our favourite Fickle Friends song since Swim.

Fickle Friends - Say No More

The Great Escape Festival 2015 - Preview (Part 5 of 5)

We reach our final 4 Breaking More Waves recommendations of acts to see at Brighton’s Great Escape Festival for 2015. Whilst we’ve narrowed our choices down to just 20 we could have quite easily listed 50 or 60 artists and no doubt there are others that are as yet unknown to us, waiting to be discovered. But choose we must, and so here are our final 4.

Recommendations

17. Fickle Friends

Their Alt-Escape show last year at the ‘Blog-Up’ promoted gig at The Mesmerist drew a big crowd, and with their indie / pop / dance cross breeding songs such as Swim, Could Be Wrong and For You all gaining some serious internet love, local kids Fickle Friends should be guaranteed a decent audience for 2015.




18. Tears & Marble

Tears & Marble consists of Cris Kuhlen and Bella Hay from the Netherlands. As far as we can remember, they’re only Dutch act to ever appear on Breaking More Waves (they were first introduced back in January 2014 in a sleep deprived blogging charity marathon). Great Escape will be this duo’s UK debut performance. If you like slightly off-kilter melancholy atmospheric electronic pop then they could be the ones for you.



19. Beach Baby

A promising UK four piece who met at Goldsmith’s College (following in the footsteps of Blur). They have recently released their debut single Ladybird through Chess Club, a distinctly hazy mid-fi sounding piece of rock music that channels the spirits of both the 70’s and early 90’s (if that’s possible).



20. April Towers

Alex Noble (vocals, keys), Charlie Burley (keys, guitars, samples, backing vocals) form the duo known as April Towers. They’re from Nottingham and are making predominantly electronic based pop music that recalls the likes of The Pet Shop Boys, New Order and OMD in places. If those references tick your boxes, then they’re a must see.



And there you have it - 20 acts on our 'to see' list, although the likelihood is that with line up clashes and the as yet unreleased Alt-Escape line up still be revealed, we'll probably end up only catching half of these.

20 not enough? Then why not also try these 10 more: Jack Garrett, Rebecca Clements, Ibeyi, Casi, Cosmo Sheldrake, George Maple, Shannon Saunders, Yak, Thomston, Clarence Clarity.

Who are you intending to see? What absolute 'must sees' have we missed? Let us know via Twitter or the comments section below.

Fickle Friends - Could Be Wrong

In 2014 Fickle Friends was the 6th most blogged act by UK based Hype Machine listed bloggers. Of the five acts that finished ahead of them, three of the others (Marika Hackman, Banks and Wolf Alice) had featured in the Blog Sound of 2014 longlist (the music bloggers version of the BBC Sound of list), one was the already well established (Caribou) and the other (Låpsley) topped the Blog Sound of 2015 longlist. You can see the full list on this link here.

Up until now the acts who came 2nd, 3rd etc in the Blog Sound of 2015 poll hadn't been announced, but we can now reveal that Fickle Friends was a clear second. There was a direct correlation between artists that UK bloggers had featured the most on their blogs and who they voted for as their favourites. It’s probably no surprise to learn of that relationship but at least it shows that bloggers aren’t as…. fickle (sorry) in their tastes as some would make out.

So now it’s time for some new Fickle Friends material, the first song to be taken from the band’s forthcoming Velvet EP, due 25th May via Killing Moon Records in the UK and B3SCI Records in the US. It would be hard not to instantly recognise Could Be Wrong as anything but Fickle Friends. The song has that delightfully danceable indie-pop  mix of synths and guitars and Natassja’s charming coo of a voice that creates the bands signature sound. It’s pop music for indie kids that don’t like pop, indie music for dance heads who don’t like indie and dance music for pop kids who don’t like dance. Basically it’s music for everyone. OK, maybe if you’re only into metalcore you’re probably not going to like it, but then we could be wrong (sorry again). 

Fickle Friends are out on tour in the UK in early summer. Dates can be found on this link here.

Fickle Friends - Could Be Wrong

Fickle Friends - For You (Video)

Tomorrow Breaking More Waves starts its annual Ones to Watch for 2015 posts. 10 artists who we think have a good chance of having an even better year next year than they did last year.

Before we get there, there’s just time for one more quick post featuring Fickle Friends, a band who have had a fairly impressive 2014, becoming firm favourites on many a blog from the moment they released Swim (remember that ?– here’s our post from January 2nd). What 2015 has in store for the Brighton five-piece we have no idea, but for now let’s revisit For You, a song that when we streamed it on Soundcloud in September we described as ‘the musical version of putting your chin up.’ Why the revisit? Because it now has a video. 

The film basically has some people walking around a bit, the band doing some staring and looking generally thoughtful, some more walking around and a quarry. We’re probably not really selling it with that description are we? 

Maybe if we told you that Fickle Friends spend the whole piece doing Britney Spears style shoulder roll-head roll-shoulder roll-groin thrust dance routines in their swim wear whilst someone jets pink champagne all over them would it make you watch it?

Look, just watch it OK? It’s a quality indie pop song and the video is sweet. OK?

Fickle Friends - For You (Video)

Fickle Friends - For You (Cesare Remix)

According to the internet Cesare is a Brazilian producer and soccer coach. Thankfully his remixes are supremely better than his national team’s performance against Germany in this year’s World Cup. Here’s an example. He takes blog favourites Fickle Friends and re-works For You into something ready for the dancefloor but never SHOUTS loudly like a Calvin Harris put-your-hands-in- the-air-mother*ckers banger. No, this is smoother, more sensual, more sophisticated, more sun kissed and even to a certain extent more sexy than that. The learning point here is dance music can be subtle and still work.

Fickle Friends - For You (Cesare Remix)

Fickle Friends - For You

Over the last couple of days we’ve been posting a number of tracks that have grabbed our ears whilst we took a 13 day break for a holiday as well as a couple of brand new songs / artists. This is the last of those slightly older tracks, albeit we use the word older reservedly and in the context of new music blogging, where it sometimes seems that anything that’s more than a few days old has the curtains drawn over it, such is the hyperactive attention deficit way the internet seems to exist these days.

For You by Brighton’s Fickle Friends will be well known to anyone who has seen the Brighton band’s live set and continues what has been quite a year for the group, gaining blog love and bookings galore. This song has already been top of Hype Machine’s 'Most Blogged Chart' and picked up a few thousand clicks of love on the world’s biggest and best music blog aggregator. However, these are only small beginnings for the band and we suspect that they’re going to have to work twice as hard if they want to step up to the next level. The reality check is that those momentary clicks of love do not make an instant fanbase; the internet can make things seem bigger and more important than they really are. It’s a really tough old world out there for new musicians – making a living from your art is a very difficult game in 2014.

And so to the song; despite the chirpy guitars on For You the tune isn’t direct from the happy club; it’s actually about realising that a relationship really isn’t going anywhere, no matter how much you want it to do so. It’s difficult to feel sad when listening to it though, because For You follows the trick of surrounding melancholy words with music that will put a spring in your step - that’s the best way of getting over anything isn’t it? This is the musical version of putting your chin up.

Fickle Friends - For You

The Great Escape Festival 2014 - Review (Part 3)

It was the third day of Brighton’s Great Escape Festival and once more Breaking More Waves took to its streets amongst shoppers, tourists, clubbers and the occasional hen and stag party for a non-stop day of live music, clocking in a whopping 42 acts full performances over the course of the whole festival.

Here’s ten more things we learnt: (You can find the other things we learnt here and here)

1. Bridie Jackson of Bridie Jackson & The Arbour likes to keep it old school.

Keeping it real, the golden toned Bridie Jackson had a Filofax on stage for her lunchtime performance at the Komedia. We assume that this had the set list written on it, but maybe when she wasn’t providing note perfect renditions of songs such as We Talked Again and Prolong she was actually looking at a shopping list for all the clothes she was going to buy down The Lanes boutique shops later?

2. The Great Escape involves spending a lot of time in basement venues.

And due to lack of wi-fi this meant that often if we wanted to live tweet from the gig we had to resort to old fashioned text tweeting, if there was a signal at all. Brighton’s Audio won however, as it has public access wi-fi.

3. Our new favourite discovery of the festival was Meanwhile.

From starting his set eagerly jumping up and down in the audience as his three-piece band began to play, to his finishing stride out through the crowd, the man known only as Meanwhile became our new favourite discovery. Here was a man who fizzled with charismatic / camp booty and hip shaking energy and a blast of Prince like electro-funk grooves, plus songs that were both intriguing and infectious. Despite suffering from the dreaded ‘technical hitches’ he knew how to impress. His debut track Luvletta streams below.

4. Sometimes just when you don’t expect that much from a band, you get a lot more.

Having already seen Fickle Friends three times this year we suspected that gig complacency might set in for ourselves, after all there’s only so many times you can see a band play the same songs isn’t there? Plus the gig was in The Mesmerist, a pub with no stage. It didn’t bode well. However we were proven completely wrong, the bands summery effervescent blend of indie pop sparkling bright, bringing natural highs, big smiles and dancing. Lead vocalist Natassja admitted that she was enjoying the show more than the previous night’s one at the Green Door Store, even although the band had been up partying most of the night. 

5. Half hour sets are the perfect length.

Nearly every gig at Great Escape was half an hour long. This was the perfect length. Not too long that new bands would struggle with material, but also perfect for more established bands who could ditch the filler and just play the killer. It’s also the ideal length for attention spans, allowing the audience to get enough, but probably leaving them wanting that tiny bit more.

6. Gig venues at festivals like this need to have food stalls.

How else are we going to be able to zip from venue to venue without pit stopping elsewhere for refuelling and potentially missing the opportunity to see more live music? So we’re not asking much are we? Just a food stall and wi-fi in every venue please. Thanks.

7. Salt Ashes is more than quite good.

With pulsing dark disco electronics and throbbing beats Brighton’s own Salt Ashes knows how to make sexy pop music. This we already knew. But Great Escape gave her the opportunity to show that she could also do it live. She delivered. Unlike many other pop acts there was no guide or backing vocal, for Salt Ashes voice is so note perfect that she didn’t need it. Add to that a composed and commanding stage presence and this lady showed that she means business.

8. Indie rock is the lifeblood of Great Escape Festival.

Whilst there was pop, dance, folk and a small amount of hip-hop, indie rock was the dominant genre of Great Escape. One of our favourite bands within this genre was Blessa. With chiming, anxious, noisy and claustrophobic guitar work juxtaposed with dreamy female vocals the Sheffield band brought an old fashioned indie sound bang up to date in the Komedia Studio.

9. We thought the only band to ever wear shorts and get away with it was Carter USM.

But Olly Alexander, lead singer of Years and Years proved us wrong in the Corn Exchange with shorts, a baseball shirt and cap. We saw several girls swooning. Black clad skinny jeaned indie boys take note. Can you imagine The Horrors in shorts? That might be a giggle.

10. The Great Escape is a must visit for any fan of new music. It also represents excellent value.

An early bird ticket was just £39.50 plus a small booking fee. We saw 42 acts, the majority of them being above average quality. You do the maths. 

See you there next year?

Bands Seen On Saturday: Bridie Jackson & The Arbour, Codes, Meanwhile, Jake Isaac, Fickle Friends, Robyn Sherwell, Years And Years, French For Rabbits, Young Summer, Blessa, George Barnett, Salt Ashes, Hannah Georgas

And finally, here are the important statistics:

Number Of Artists Full Performances Seen In Total: 42

Number Of Hours Sleep: 14.5 ( An average of 4.8 hours / day)

Fatigue Factor: Surprisingly awake

Hugs From Artists: 5

Number Of Music Bloggers Randomly Bumped Into: 8

Meanwhile - Luvetta

Fickle Friends - Play

A music blog is like a public diary, enabling anyone to rifle through the pages of events of yesteryear and discover past lovers. For instance, turn back to 2008 when Breaking More Waves was just learning to crawl and you’ll find us predicting one of our Ones To Watch 2009 as Skint & Demoralised. Then just a few months later, when we were still carrying live reviews, we said of Skint & Demoralised: “Unfortunately, Breaking More Waves prediction last year of Skint and Demoralised being one to watch seems just a little misplaced for now.” (Here) It’s a topsy-turvy unpredictable world out there. Sometimes things don’t work out and our relationships with particular artists is a bit like being fickle friends.

Sometimes things do work out though, even for fickle friends. Or in this case Fickle Friends, the Brighton based five-piece who have well and truly hit the buzz button hard. Since our first post on them last December, when their song I Want / You Want captured our attention (here), things have been on an upward trajectory. They’ve gone from just a couple of thousand plays on Soundcloud to over 370,000 in three months and today within seconds of new song Play being unveiled you can almost hear the tap-tapping of bloggers keyboards as they rush to be one of the first to get the song on line. No doubt by the time you read this it will already be on some sites, but we’re so damn f*cking excited about their songs that, we’re jumping in and posting relatively early after the track has been released. 

Play is a tune that once again musically sets the heart racing with a giddy pop bounce, even if the lyrics aren't all about bunny rabbits, sunshine and rainbows. “Play is about seeing someone who’s losing their passion. It's a continuation of the characters from Swim. She’s getting nostalgic as he becomes less interested in everything,” says lead singer Natti. “Baby you don’t play it like you used to,” she sings on the chorus. Well,we’re still playing big for Fickle Friends, there’s no diminishing passion here at Breaking More Waves.

Fickle Friends next live date is in London at The Shacklewell Arms in London on April 9, with plenty more live shows throughout spring and summer including slots at festivals such as Sound City, The Great Escape, Leefest, Truckfest and Secret Garden Party. Play is available to buy on iTunes right now. Do it. The music of Fickle Friends will make your day that much better.  

Final thought. #FF on twitter was named as such because of Fickle Friends – TRUE FACT.

Maybe. 

Fickle Friends - Play 

Fickle Friends - Swim (Paperwhite Remix)

Some things we’ve learnt about Fickle Friends since we last posted about them:

1. Their blog conquering single Swim is no one off – they have a number of equally vibrant tunes ready to make love to the ears if you catch them at a gig.

2. Fickle Friends may be a band that are relatively new to most of us, but in terms of live performance there’s none of the usual worries that come with new bands and their inability to transform glossy studio sounds into something of merit on stage – Fickle Friends can play and they play sharp.

3. Fickle Friends need a better press shot. This one doesn’t do them justice. They all look far better in the flesh. Mind you, the undersell can be a clever strategy – after all over expectation can only lead to disappointment.

4. Their next single is likely to be called Play.

5. They’re playing a gig in their home town of Brighton on the 30th Jan at the Green Door Store. It’s free entry. This is very good news. See you there perhaps?

6. There’s a remix out there by brother and sister duo Katie and Ben Marshall who go by the name of Paperwhite, who have themselves caught a fair few blogs attention recently with their debut track Got Me Goin’ - a floaty chill-wave sounding tune, full of breathy vocals and textured  feathery magic. It’s that remix that we’re featuring today, which takes the original and lights it up a little further with a just of light coat of electronic bliss and maxed up cowbell. 

Fickle Friends - Swim (Paperwhite Remix)

Fickle Friends - Swim

Here’s a song we mentioned a few days ago which went public today and has already been picked up by a number of blogs leading to over 1000 plays on Soundcloud in its first few hours on line - not bad for a virtually unknown band who had about 2000 plays in several months before that with a previous song. It's also just sneaked onto the Hype Machine charts so expect that play count to continue upwards.

Swim is lusher and smoother than previous track I Want / You Want which we introduced the Brighton five-piece with in December (that song has now mysteriously been taken off line). Swim sounds like it’s been influenced by hanging out in the sun by the bars under the arches on the beach last summer in their home town; it’s certainly  a song to get the factor 30 sun screen out for because it’s blazing with hooky guitar riffs, bright synthy heart punchers and even a little bit of funkiness. It's a hot indie groove for a cold January. 

Recorded with James Earp (Bipolar Sunshine, Nina Nesbitt) Swim has been described by Fickle Friends lead singer Natti as following the idea that “people get mixed-up in confusion and sometime feels like they're drowning.” You can purchase it on the new Killing Moon and Ally McCrae compilation New Moons Vol 1 which also features the much blogged here south coast singer Laurel who Fickle Friends will be supporting at the Barfly in Camden next week on the 9th. If you live in London why not make that your first gig of the year?

Fickle Friends - Swim

Fickle Friends - New Waves

Brighton’s Fickle Friends make the kind of life-affirming indie-pop racket that creates angular elbow twitching and furious head bobbing melees in these parts.  It seems that similar dad dancing might well be taking place in the kitchens of one Mr Jamie Oliver as well, the band having won the celebrity chef’s Summer Jam competition, bagging themselves the opportunity to play at his ‘Big Feastival’ in 2013.

Having formed in 2012 Fickle Friends have already released an EP A Girl Like That and the start of 2014 will see new track Swim featuring on a compilation put together by Killing Moon Records and Ally McCrae of Radio 1. Swim is another song that will guarantee sock-melting chicken-dancing grooves a plenty. The tune we’re introducing readers of Breaking More Waves to Fickle Firends with however is the vibrant I Want / You Want. It’s an examination of relationships that stabs and blasts with an itchy irrepressibility and giddy guitars. This will get the post-Christmas adrenalin flowing at the jangle disco.

Fickle Friends can be found treading the boards alongside one of Breaking More Waves favourite pop belles Laurel at Camden Barfly on the 9th of January. Get there early to catch them and dance a bit silly.

Fickle Friends - I Want / You Want