Inflorescent
The UK trio's first album since 2011 finds new life in the smooth surfaces of house music.
After eight years away, the St Albans trio play it safe with a comeback album that seems designed to exist as montage music for ITV2 adverts
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Akin to gobbling an entire pack of Fruit Pastilles; colourful, maybe a little sickly, but you sure as hell want to experience it again.
While there are some interesting sounds here and there, the overriding feeling is of a more club-friendly Take That
On their 2008 self-titled debut and 2011's Pala, Friendly Fires crafted a prescient sound that blended dance-punk, dream pop, and flirtations with more straightforward dance music -- and then they disappeared for eight years. While they were gone, the gaps between indie, dance, and pop that they bridged continued to shrink; listening to Inflorescent, it's clear that Friendly Fires have managed to keep up with the times and remain true to what made them stand out in the first place. It's more than a little ironic that they begin their first album in nearly a decade with a song called "Can't Wait Forever," but it immediately plunges listeners into their dance floor euphoria -- a skill they've used expertly since 2008's "Jump in the Pool."
On their third record, Inflorescent, Friendly Fires are grasping for the last of the summer sun, staring it down with little regard for their poor eyes or their rapidly melting brain matter.
When you research Friendly Fires for articles such as an album review, you discover that lead singer Edward Macfarlane loves to dance.
8 years. Think about what’s happened in the 8 years between Friendly Fires’ records. Adam Williams reviews the UK trio's forthcoming release Inflorescent
Harking back to the era of funkily optimistic pop may not speak to our times, but FF’s first album in eight years is truly joyous