Friendly Fires

“Photobooth”
from the album Friendly Fires
2008
iTunes

Where would suburban bands be without the “commuter-belt boredom” that, we’re told, inspired St Albans’ Friendly Fires to create the pop/rave hybrid that constitutes their debut album? The trio seem to be on the fast track to mainstream success – they’ve already played in America and Japan, setting the scene for a Klaxons-style upward trajectory. The surprise is their sophistication; like Klaxons, they’re just fluorescent enough to keep club kids interested, but their real commitment is to sparkling, modern pop. The album is full of it, every track pulsing and clattering around an electronic heart and almost never exceeding three minutes. Singer Ed Macfarlane’s voice rarely rises above a blissed-out murmur except when the whooshing party anthems “Lovesick” and “Paris” move him to unfurl a falsetto. Lyrically, they veer between odes to suburbia, such as “Photobooth,” and dreaming big dreams (“One day we’ll live in Paris”); either way, they couldn’t be more likable.