Friendly Fires have never had any issues keeping the momentum flowing since their 2008 debut album and the EPs that preceded that. The time has come to follow up 2011’s Pala, and the band have found themselves in a strange but rewarding situation.
In a recent interview with The Sunday Mirror, according to NME, frontman Ed Macfarlane has explained that their new material is nothing like what Friendly Fires would release: “We’ve been working on eight-minute long tracks that don’t sound anything like what we do now.” Macfarlane has also expressed that he’s comfortable with the concept of releasing the material under a new moniker: “The music is what it’s all about for us, so if it means we release under a different name, then that’s fine.”
The new tracks come after a previous word from the band that they won’t be recording material until they have something ‘distinct’ on paper. After some time in the studio, the band announced that they had goodies to offer the fans, describing that “We’ve been tentatively putting together new music. We’re working on quite a few things and we need to finish those off. It sounds a bit more thoughtful, a bit more downbeat, it’s still quite fast, but it’s krauty. We’ll see what happens once we’ve pulled it all together.”
Friendly Fires were in town earlier this year, but are currently in the UK, having wrapped up the two-day epic that is Lovebox Festival. The band capped off the event with a headlining set on the main stage. The set showed the dedication of their fans, who braved the rawest elements to watch the show, with Macfarlane praising the crowd: “Thank you for raving in this terrible weather… Just imagine you’re on a tropical island right now.”
