Review by Dom Vigil
Fickle Friends’ debut full-length has been a long time coming and it is well worth the wait. Filled to the brim with twinkling, catchy as hell bops driven by meaningful lyricism, You Are Someone Else is both fun to listen to and incredibly cathartic. There’s a little bit of something for everyone on this release, whether you’re smitten with Fickle Friends’ retro pop sound or you’re looking for understanding in songs that touch on anxiety, self-doubt and toxic relationships.
You Are Someone Else starts strong with an anthem of an opener on “Wake Me Up” and never once loses steam, even on darker tracks like “Bite” or stripped down songs like “In My Head.” Keeping up with the high energy opener is the sticky sweet and retro sounding single, “Glue,” which will easily get stuck in your head after just one listen. It contrasts beautifully with tracks like the vulnerable “Swim,” about finding comfort in a friend and knowing that you’re not alone in your struggles and the darker “Bite,” which is about falling in love fast and hard and getting caught up in a toxic relationship. Compared to the first three twinkling tracks, “Bite” is darker and a bit frantic, but it comes and goes with ease.
Nothing feels out of place on You Are Someone Else. While frontwoman Natti Shiner navigates the rough terrain of finding herself and coping with anxiety, the songs play with ease, making for a stunning contrast between the rather personal lyricism and catchy as hell hits. “Hard To Be Myself,” for example, touches on exactly what the title suggests – it’s about trying to live up to expectations and feeling like you can’t be yourself, and it’s accompanied by dreamy, surreal instrumentals. This is followed by the electric, bass driven standout, “Lovesick.”
Cutting these sixteen songs in half is the ninth track, “In My Head,” a stripped down, simplistic song that stands out from the pack and feels very vulnerable and intimate. Without twinkling instrumentals, Shiner’s voice is incredibly raw and personal on this track. The second half of You Are Someone Else then takes on a slightly darker tone than the first eight songs. The dreamy twelfth track, “Paris” contrasts with the massive “Brooklyn” and “Midnight,” one of the darkest songs on the album, before things begin to wind down.
Simply put, You Are Someone Else is pop music with purpose. The days of meaningless hits are over, and in their place come songs like the ones found on this release – intimate, vulnerable tracks that you can sing along to, but can relate with as well. Nobody said pop music had to be vain and empty, and Fickle Friends are proving that the substance of a catchy song matters just as much as a chorus that’ll get stuck in your head.
LISTEN TO: “Hard To Be Myself” “Lovesick” or “Brooklyn”
STAY CONNECTED WITH FICKLE FRIENDS: https://www.facebook.com/FickleFriends/