WATCH: Fickle Friends - 'Cosmic Coming of Age'

Happy Friday and happy Low Island album release day. So much to celebrate! Coming to you on Wednesday evening (time travel) via the wonders of pre-scheduled posts with this ace new Fickle Friends tune. They're following up recent EP Weird Years (Season 1) with Season 2 and recently shared Not In The Mood from it. Latest tune Cosmic Coming Of Age is exactly that: a certified tune. 80s vibes galore, the band are making use of the juxtaposition between the serious emotions portrayed in the lyrics and the oh-so-lively musical backdrop. A joy, as ever! 

On the track, vocalist Natti Shiner shares: "Cosmic Coming of Age is about that transitional period in life where everything seems to fall apart, a kind of quarter life crisis. One moment you have everything together, the next it feels like you have to start life from scratch. In horoscope astrology this is seen as the time of reaching full adulthood, and man does the universe make you work for it! This song is full of lyrical visuals and is best heard on your car stereo, driving into a sunset." 

Known for regularly making their own videos, this time around the band's own Jack Wilson has the director hat on here, for a video featuring Natti as she experiences a whole range of emotions, from despair through to joy. 

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EP NEWS: Fickle Friends - ‘Weird Years (Season 1)’

Fickle Friends are back... their new EP Weird Years (Season 1) is set for release on 15th January via Cooking Vinyl, and lead single What A Time is below. With two singles - Eats Me Up and Pretty Great - already under their belts earlier in the year, the band had been working towards a 2020 release for their second album. Then... lockdown. Very much a band who thrive from the buzz of live shows, it didn't feel right to release a full record at the moment, so they're releasing this EP, with more instalments following next year too. 

Frontwoman Natti Shiner says of the EP that it is "the weird story of the last three years of our lives. It covers everything from waking up and feeling horrendous, to being stuck in lockdown and feeling anxious, to being heartbroken. There's a lot in there that I think people will relate to." 

Talking about the new track, she goes on to explain that it is "an anthem for escapism. With everything that has happened over the last six months, everyone has needed a little time away from the outside world. It's felt like the world is going to shit, but you need to take some time out for yourself. Shut your bedroom door, turn your music up and dance around the room." 

Following on from their last self-produced music video, the video (above) is filmed and edited by the band themselves - skills nurtured during lockdown. They headed into Brighton after dark, capturing the feeling of heading into the outdoors for the first time in months. 

Pre-save/add the EP here - white vinyl available on their store here.

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WATCH: Fickle Friends - 'Eats Me Up'

New Fickle Friends music? Yes please. They stormed onto the scene a couple of years back, releasing the brilliant debut record You Are Someone Else in 2018. I have a really vivid memory of us putting the album in the player when I was working at HMV, and a colleague running over to stop it once it started swearing. (Oops!) They're back with a new album in the pipeline and have released new tracks Amateurs and Pretty Great recently, and have just shared Eats Me Up. As always, it's a bit of a bop but there's a really important message about mental health in our social media obsessed world in the lyrics too.

I'll pass over to the band themselves to explain the track better than I possibly could - on writing it, singer Natti says "when we took some time away to write this new album it was a welcome break, but I found myself using social media as my main way of keeping up with things. It's a very tricky headspace to be in and there were moments where I felt very alienated, depressed, frustrated, jealous... and scared to say anything at risk of being shamed. Everyone who has access to these online platforms has a voice. They can build you up and tear you down, 'Eats Me Up' is about my relationship with that and how we all need to learn to find space away from it all." 

The video for the track was shot and directed by the band themselves. In a post online they describe the process - "we hired a sick camera, loads of lights, a haze machine [..] built cloud lights and turned Jack's house into a video set. The general idea was to create this kind of escape, a dream-like / nightmarish world that's representative of trying to find peace of mind... a kinda psychological calm within the storm." 

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TOUR NEWS: Fickle Friends (December 2019)

It feels as if time has completely flown by since Fickle Friends released their debut album You Are Someone Else. It was somehow all the way back in March 2018 and after a period of touring they've been hidden away making new music and... they're back! Amateurs is their first release of the year and the first taste of music from their second album and it was worth the wait! In short it is a bit of a bop.

They're heading out on the road this December for a run of intimate shows which finishes up in one of my favourite venues, London's Omeara. Dates and tickets here.

2nd December: Castle & Falcon, Birmingham
3rd: Leadmill, Sheffield
4th: Mash House, Edinburgh
5th: Phase One, Liverpool
7th: Moles Club, Bath
8th: Joiners, Southampton
9th: Omeara, London

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