Friendly Fires, Inflorescent, Album Review
Friendly Fires
Inflorescent
Album Review
Friendly Fires have been a band that me and my friends have been enjoying for a fair while now. It wasn't until Truck Festival this year that my friend blasted on their single of last year "Love Like Waves", but ironically, it was last year that Friendly Fires headlined the exact same festival. Needless to say, I've been in love with this band since.
After having a number of teaser tracks to get me excited for a new supposed release of theirs, I wasn't expecting their newest album to arrive this suddenly. For long-time fans however, this album couldn't come soon enough, as Inflorescent is in-fact, their first album in eight years.
As what many would consider to be a "newbie" in the world of Friendly Fires fandom, it would be difficult for me to compare this album to the likes of their older music. However, I disagree with what many reviewers seem to be slating this album for; stating that this album is essentially a hollow shell of the bands former appeal. I for one, really do love this album.
It's actually a shame that this album didn't release a little sooner, as it is absolutely oozing with warm summer energy, which would make Inflorescent an essential holiday soundtrack for anybody going away somewhere warmer than the UK (there are many places to choose from).
Despite being generally labelled as an indie rock band, Friendly Fires manage to expertly portray an almost Ibiza style dance style on the majority of this albums tracks.
Inflorescent gets off to an incredibly strong start, with the first track being their last teaser "Can't Wait Forever", which I only discovered the evening before the full albums release. From here, the colourful and joyous energy remains consistently this way for a majority of the albums runtime.
Where I did find the album to be a little lacking was towards the end, in which the band seemed to get a little lost in the weeds and give the listener a more traditional indie rock sound. And while this isn't musically offensive in any way, it contradicts the earlier half of the album in a way that did leave me a little puzzled.
Also, as I touched upon earlier, I feel like this album would've had a tonne more value sentimentally if it were released at the height of the summer rather than towards the end. however, this is just a minor nitpick in comparison to the many things that make Inflorescent so brilliant.
The key word when it comes to this album, is fun, as this album is absolutely loaded with it. You'd have to be borderline soulless to sneer at just how joyful this thing is. And all the while, it never feels unbearably cheesy.
Currently, I am a huge fan of tracks such as "Heaven Let Me In", "Offline (with Friend Within)", and most prominently, the luminous "Sleeptalking". This track especially, is a gorgeously cosmic soundscape, with enough cohesiveness in the vocals to keep it as an absolute anthem.
This year has certainly proven that retro electro-pop is back in style, and this album (from an indie-rock band no less) is a perfect example as to why this is. After an eight year hiatus, I would argue that this album hardly stumbles in the slightest, which is always a good sign as many "return to form" albums seem to have done so.
I am hoping that we don't have to go through another long break to hear more from Friendly Fires, as this album has now gotten me hooked on their sound, and its fair to say that this great band have made another fan out of me.
Thank you for reading,
Booth Boy
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