Friends - Manifest!

It feels like a horribly long time since I reviewed a debut album. Maybe it's down to having a university course that I've fallen astray with the whole emerging-musicians thing but I'd like to review more. Few I've noticed have garnered much hype and praise, though, and that too can be said of the Brooklyn fivesome Friends, a cross-generational nostalgic front that's probably a little too varied in its influences and sounds to present themselves as an easily identifiable band. The indie-funk I'm His Girl was their first taste of buzz, though, and its dangerously infectious bassline caught many, including my own, ears.

The idea of a female-led indie group with a love of music past and a conveniently cool wardrobe is just about as clichéd as introducing them in an article headed with an oh-so hilariously weird quote from the band. The Guardian went with "There's a lot of homosexuality among bedbugs". Bravo. Top notch charisma right there. Cheers, Guardian.

Our first taste is 'Friend Crush', a track not entirely dissimilar to recent indie-pop duo efforts from the likes of Cat's Eyes, Cults or Best Coast - a cute, chirpy, slightly cool and cold tune that, as a stand-alone track, sadly fails to capture imaginations. The bassline might be prominent but it's restrained and quiet, and Samantha Urbani's vocals sound dissinterested. Much more fun, though, is 'Sorry', a breezy slice of reggae-pop that begs "I want you to come over to my house," and lilts nicely with its gentle percussion. The idea that the brand have been labelled 'funk punk' might seem ludicrous once third track 'Home' bounces into view with another friendly, vaguely-catchy (in that Vampire Weekend album filler way) melody. Urbani does an uncanny Nelly Furtado here, too.

A welcome kick up the arse then is 'A Thing Like This', all shrill keyboard effects and a delightfully groovy bassline. "I could never compromise my concept of truth" is their defiant mantra, delivered with a chorus that climaxes in the fashion of a 1980s soap opera. The whole new wave revival that's been underway for perhaps longer than its actual peak might bore some to tears but there's something in 'A Light' that every ardent Echo & the Bunnymen or Blondie fan'll find enticing.  A little more contemporary though is the vocal stylings and jingly percussions of 'Ideas on Ghosts', a yearning and commanding pop ballad, that sounds worlds away from their following (and long-overdue) punk moment; 'Ruins' builds resentfully with the bassline and Urbani's shrieks and moans, sounding rather Karen O towards the end.

2011's sleeper-hit 'I'm His Girl' then swaggers into view and is quite certainly their catchiest and most instantly gratifying song on display; "and I do exactly what I want when I'm with him and when I'm not" is calmly expressed with worrying cool. Compared with the following 'Proud/Ashamed' it's a godsend, since the latter drags along with its knuckles on the floor, paralyzed without ambition. On 'Stay Dreaming' there's another pretty vocal performance from Urbani but the instrumental seems fixated on evoking some sense of U2 divine intervention, but ends up lazily optimistic. Not necessarily a bad thing, but nor is it refreshing. The feisty 'Va Fan Gör Du' might come a little too late for some of the less-attentive album listeners, and in its convincing You Should Be Dancing riff-alike paints a whole new fun side to the band. They bow out with a touch more mundane and foreseeable 'Mind Control', though, and it's a rather dull shrug of an effort.

Ultimately - the problem here is that I'm faced with serious doubts that I'll remember Friends ahead of the likes of Cults and Niki & the Dove since none of the songs (I'm His Girl aside) have enough gusto to persuade me. What Friends do accomplish however is the cross-genre experimentation phase with interesting and varying results. That they might improve on their songwriting and come back with something like Abducted or A-Punk is something to relish, but maybe that's just too optimistic.

Rating: 7/10
Highlights: Sorry, A Light, I'm His Girl, A Thing Like This, Ideas on Ghosts, Va Fan Gör Du
Avoid: Friend Crush, Proud/Ashamed, Mind Control

Artwork Watch: IT IS SO FLEETWOOD MAC 'WE'RE HAVING PROBLEMS; OBSERVE OUR POUTS' IT HURTS
For fans of: Music Go Music, The Go! Team, Cults
Up next: Usher  

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