Fickle Friends

England's Fickle Friends craft an intricate yet dance-oriented strain of synth pop shaped by the '80s and early '90s. Early live performances generated considerable excitement, which expanded into wider notice once their debut album You Are Someone Else appeared in 2018. Their second album, Are We Gonna Be Alright?, arrived in 2022 and reflected further refinement of their already polished approach.

The group formed in Brighton during 2013, with vocalist/keyboardist Natassja "Natti" Shiner, guitarist Chris Hall, bassist Harry Harrington, keyboardist Jack Wilson, and drummer Sam Morris comprising the lineup. In the following two years they strengthened a dedicated audience through more than 50 festival shows. By 2015, however, their manager had departed and resources had grown scarce. A contract with Polydor and the subsequent release of the debut EP Velvet provided relief. Work on new material then commenced in Los Angeles alongside producer Mike Crossey (Arctic Monkeys, Two Door Cinema Club, the 1975), yielding the buoyant, synth-driven singles "Swim" and "Brooklyn" in 2016. Their first full-length, You Are Someone Else, followed in 2018; it incorporated those earlier tracks plus additional highlights such as "Hello Hello" and "Wake Me Up." Three further singles emerged that same year, among them the buoyant "San Francisco," and these were later gathered on the EP Broken Sleep. After issuing the pair of 2021 EPs Weird Years: Seasons 1 & 2, the band returned with the sophomore album Are We Gonna Be Alright?.