Staff Reviews

Friends - Manifest!

Review by Marie Wood

At a time when pop music is a production line, we could really use a friend. Leave your prejudices behind, shut your eyes and just enjoy.»

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exclusive five track rough trade bonus cd featuring 'perpetual crush', 'feelin dank', 'my boo' plus the arthur baker remix of 'i'm his girl' and the jake bullit mix of 'friend crush'. a complete pop album based on catchy choruses, fun, 99 records, 80's pop and an instant sugar rush. after beaming out of bushwick in 2011 with two buzzworthy singles and videos plus a reputation for turning live gigs into spontaneous diy parties (and vice versa) brooklyn quintet friends release their debut album manifest!, on lucky number. the album was produced by the band - singer samantha urbani, multi-instrumentalists lesley hann, matthew molnar, and nikki shapiro, and drummer oliver duncan. they recorded its twelve tracks between last summer and this spring with engineer daniel schlett at strange weather studios in brooklyn. 'manifest!' aims both to live up to and to defy the promise of those first singles - 'friend crush' and 'i'm his girl' - over the course of a thirty-eight minute long player. next single, 'mind control', mixed by grammy winner paul epworth (florence and the machine, adele, azealia banks), pushes friends' trademark sound - groove-driven, melodic, infectious - into less self-consciously lo-fi territory. beginning with a tightly coiled groove that suggests both esg and tlc, the band stoke up a sonic revolution of vintage keyboard stabs and echoes, distorted bass and wah-inflected guitar, and relentless rhythm and percussion.
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