FICKLE FRIENDS + ISLAND CLUB + THYLA – CONCORDE 2, BRIGHTON 19.3.18
Three days after the launch of their debut album entitled ‘You Are Someone Else’ on Polydor Records, Brighton’s very own cool hipsters Fickle Friends tonight performed a storming set at the Concorde 2 in their hometown.
The band is made up of Natassja Shiner (vocals, keyboard), Harry Herrington (bv’s, bass), Chris Hall (lead guitar), Jack Wilson (keyboards) and Sam Morris (drums). Natasja met Sam at Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts and then met Chris, Harry and Jack at The British & Irish Modern Music Institute, here in Brighton.
Indie-pop band Fickle Friends have been following in the footsteps of similar act CHVRCHES by playing many concerts and building up a devoted fan base and thus have been crafting away and fine tuning their sound since they formed in 2013. However, with the unleashing of their new album, we reckon that 2018 will be their breakthrough year – Top 20 album probably? All will be revealed very soon. (UPDATE 23.3.18 – Yes we were correct as their debut album has just gone crashing into the official album charts at the lofty position of No.9!)
The 16 track album ‘You Are Someone Else’ is produced by Mike Crossey, who has made albums with Arctic Monkeys, Keane, The Kooks, Razorlight and The 1975 to name just a few.
‘You Are Someone Else’ follows on from a host of incredible singles including 2016’s ‘Brooklyn’, and 2017’s ‘Glue’ and ‘Hello Hello’, which have all been playlisted on Radio 1. The album effortlessly captures both the joy and uncertainty of growing up a 2018 millennial. Songs addressing social awkwardness, self-doubt, anxiety and the qualms of growing into young adulthood all through a prism of perfect timeless pop.
Their current tour takes the band all around the UK and then onto Holland, France, Belgium, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, USA, and then returning to the UK to conclude the tour. There’s no doubt that the gang are really going for it this time!
This evenings gig at the Concorde 2 on Brighton seafront was totally sold out. That’s just over 600 hundred punters of all ages but mostly made up of teens. A vast difference from their Hope & Ruin concert two years ago, when according to Natassja, there was just five people in the audience.
Tonight’s proceedings was kicked off by a Brighton based 4-piece indie-pop band called Thyla, pronounced ‘Thigh-La’, who are fronted by the charismatic Millie Duthie. The other guys are Danny Southwell, Dan Hole and Mitch Duce. Their sound was quite rocky (The Horrors meets Blondie) for tonight’s punters however, they went down rather well and they sure set the standards for the evening’s entertainment. I would like to see this band play live again. I rather like their track ‘Pristine Dream’ as it sounds like a rocky Cocteau Twins. You can hear some more from Thyla here: https://soundcloud.com/thyla_music and find them on Facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/thylamusic/
Next up were a professional Radio 1 friendly 5-piece outfit also from Brighton called Island Club. I was surprised by their singers high pitched singing tone, if you can recall Green Gartside from Scritti Politti, as in ‘Wood Beez (Pray Like Aretha Franklin)’, then you have it. See what I mean by listening to the Island Club song ‘Irresistible’ and several others here: https://soundcloud.com/islandclubmusic They threw their specially made Island Club frisbees into the crowd and informed us about their forthcoming gig at Patterns in October. Find out more here: http://islandclubofficial.com/
After a short break, it was time for this evening’s head of the bill act – Fickle Friends. The crowd were well up for it tonight, especially all of the young ladies near me who had somehow managed to have learnt all of the lyrics of every track on the new album, probably since it’s release just 3 days earlier – impressive stuff!
Singer Natassja was really chuffed to finally be playing the Concorde 2 as it has been on her bucket list since the band formed and tonight her dream was coming true.
At times the drummer was accompanied by the keyboard player switching to a second set of synth drums and that worked rather well I thought. Depending on which track they were performing, my mind was changed as to who to compare them with. There was Dua Lipa, Madonna and even Prince at times, during their uplifting 14 song set.
Clearly this is a band on the up as their decent song ‘Hard To Be Myself’ is heading towards a quarter of million YouTube plays. I would be astounded if these guys didn’t start to dominate the singles charts very soon.
For more info on the band, visit http://www.ficklefriends.co.uk/ and https://www.facebook.com/FickleFriends
