Fickle Friends’ new album is as flighty as their name suggests

Four years after Fickle Friends dropped their first single ‘Swim’, the Brighton-based quintet have risen in popularity. After touring for two years without a label, the anticipation for their debut album You Are Someone Else has been immense. And this record does what it promises, delivering sound-defining synths within anthems perfect for sing-alongs with the roof down.

The album kicks off with my favourite from the record, ‘Wake Me Up’. The last song to be written for this album, it nevertheless successfully manages to set the tone for the rest of the album. Frontwoman Natassja Shiner describes it as “one about wanting a relationship to work so bad but knowing deep down that it isn’t going anywhere.” It employs a glitzy, synthetic-fuelled beat that encapsulates the band’s sound and one that can really get your feet moving. It’s followed by fan-favourite ‘Glue’, which sounds like a song straight out of a 70s party. A tribute to their first ever single and the song that introduced me to this band back in 2014, the remastered ‘Swim’ completes the introduction to the album perfectly.

‘Wake Me Up’ employs a glitzy, synthetic-fuelled beat that encapsulates the band’s sound

By the time we reach ‘Bite’ however, the album goes a little bit sideways. I personally am not a fan of the initially high vocals. The song in particular embodies 80s pop and modern club, a combination that in my opinion should be left untouched and in turn causes it to fall flat in comparison with the majority of the album’s tracks. But their sonic quality is recovered by ‘Hard To Be Myself’, with a moodier sound that might appeal to the party-going introverts of the world. ‘Lovesick’, despite its cheerful high-tempo melodies, talks about the far less joyful issue of losing someone you love. This theme is sustained through the album, seen especially in songs such as the ironically upbeat ‘Heartbroken’. ‘Say No More’, an older and thus familiar single, uses similar sounds to that of The 1975, while ‘In My Head’ acts as the bridge of the album with its mellow sound. It’s an instrumentally stripped-back track, which uses droning synths and really shows off Shiner’s vocals.

The pace is picked up with ‘Rotation’ which once more showcases the upbeat, synth-filled sounds that we’ve become accustomed to with this sound. However, its repetitive lyrics make it unremarkable in comparison to the rest of the album. ‘Hello Hello’ is a charming track that sounds as though it could be found on a Carly Rae Jepsen album. Shiner falls into a deeper register with ‘Paris’, whose smooth tones allow it to stand out on the record, while ‘Brooklyn’ gives us the album’s titular lyric “you are someone else” in the hook of the track, and ‘Midnight’ is a great addition to the album in drawing much inspiration from 90s pop.

Most tracks individually hold themselves, but together the sound can be monotonous

The penultimate track ‘She’ maintains a gradual build throughout and is lyrically the winner. As the final number, ‘Useless’ is a let-down at best – perhaps the song’s name is reflective of its nature. If the ending of the album were to follow suit, this song should instead have been a high – on an anthem that forces the listener to want more.

You Are Someone Else is a record that displays a lot of emotion, which will be comforting to those who find solace in its lyrics. But although the band certainly has a distinctive sound, the album as a whole has little variety. Most tracks individually hold themselves, but together the sound can be monotonous, though this very fact makes each song feel like a Fickle Friends track in being stamped with the vibrancy of their sound.