As Fierce Friend heads toward the release of Blood Red Hills & The Uncanny Valley, the new album from this Brighton-based DIY multi-instrumentalist, this third single does nothing to lessen the growing intrigue and interest in what’s to come. And that, after all, is the main job of any single, is it not?
And it does that by being the most beguiling, and, in an unconventional way, perhaps even beautiful, piece of off-kilter indie, a song that starts in minimalist melodies, cascades of piano, and a sense of growing tension, a sense that soon becomes reality, and by the one-minute mark, the sonic weight has increased, and the space has been squeezed out; those sonic waves have moved from lapping gently against the shore into more complex, conflicting polyrhythmic eddies and waves.
And that’s the clever thing here: the melodies and motifs, riffs and rhythms don’t essentially change; they merely shift alignment or change their relationship with what’s going on around them, moving gradually out of step, creating a beautiful chaos, a sea of sonic troubles.
Inspired by the “disappearance of Amelia Earhart in 1937 and the strange trail of unanswered signals, rumors, and phantom transmissions that followed,” the music mirrors the story: a sonic transmission growing ever more scattered and complex, with a growing sense of disquiet and confusion as the song builds.
Mathy and marvelous, strange and strangely seductive, conflicted and creative, music allowed to run wild, sonics free to reach some almost illogical conclusions… and a lot of fun. Just imagine what a whole album of this sort of thing will offer!
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