Album Review: Fickle Friends - 'Are We Gonna Be Alright?'
After almost four years of change and improvement, ups and down in the industry and outside, Fickle Friends have finally returned in what can aptly be called an “alright” manner.
The Brighton four-piece storm back on the scene with the highly anticipated follow-up to their 2018 full-length debut You Are Someone Else, and the development is obvious to the eyes and ears of fans everywhere. The album is their debut on Cooking Vinyl, and is taking the band down a more high-energy, dance-worthy and honestly memorable path than with their previous album. An example of this is ‘Yeah, Yeah, Yeah’: a song which, as the title suggests, is a catchier track than those released before. A natural ascension for the outfit and proof that time can change people for the better, personally and professionally.
Moving on from their 2018 era with a new sound, new album and a new label team behind them, it shows they know who they are and what they want in their collective career. The truest sign of a self-actualised group.
Tracks like ‘Love You to Death’ and ‘Write Me a Song’ are great indications of the songwriting level among the group, and how they all work together. Special highlighting goes to the vocals of frontwoman Natassja Shiner, who is showing that as the styles change and the tones become deeper than surface level, she’s able to adapt her soft, personalised vocals to the more gritty and truthful lyrics woven in each song.
Are We Gonna Be Alright? is the ideal successor for You Are Someone Else, as it shows within the space of four long and tumultuous years, the band have kept working and growing and adapting to life and art as it changes out in the world and within their hearts and heads.
Are we gonna be alright? If Fickle Friends keep going the way they are, we might just be.
Words by Jo Cosgrove
