Thursday, October 18, 2012

#42: Friendly Fires

These guys have been in my playlist for far too long without recognition. So I'm starting with the song that first addicted me to them.

I'll continue with quite possibly my favourite:

and the best ever remix:

Followed by the most melancholy:

The most get-the-fuck-up-and-dance:

The most awesome:

And the coverest:

...You get it. These guys are awesome. But it ain't usually my thing, so what the hell happened to make me addicted to them? So, I'll start with Kiss Of Life. Apart from the fact that it's been used by The Aston Shuffle (love!) in one of their MoS discs, it's one of those things where there's a lot of people singing (or it sounds like it, at any rate) and a lot of people singing sounds awesome. Something I call sound saturation. Two things make sound saturation: lots of music, or lots of voices. In this case, it works both ways, except the voice aspect is more prominent. It's like hearing a choir that makes you tear up, except this don't make me tear up. It makes me... um, want to get up and dance and, um... it evokes... emotions of... um... alright fuckit, when I'm in the right mood I tear up at this too. But it ain't a bad tearing up, nor a sad one. It's the best damn tearing up I ever did, and it's all happy emotions.

I just tried to pause it right now so I could move on to the next song. The silence sounded crap.

So what's so big about Paris? Apart from the Eiffel Tower, I mean. I can start with the fact that they love Au Revoir Simone (love!) enough to include them as backing vocals in the original, then they sang the lead vocals in the Aeroplane (love!) remix. It's pretty obvious that there's a huge difference and my gods, it's amazing. Well, they're both amazing in their own way. The Aeroplane (love!) remix is seven minutes long, and at ~4'16" it drops into moar sound saturation! The only gripe I have is that it's ultra slow, but hey, it means there's more time to listen to the liquidness that is the music. Otherwise, I melt whenever I hear Au Revoir Simone (love!), no matter what the song is. They have such beautiful voices. And beautiful... aw hell, they're all beautiful all over. But anyway. I wouldn't mind finding that French girl, but hell if I wouldn't mind five minutes with one of the girls from Au Revoir Simone (love!). But pressing on, and ignoring my hormones.

I love Hurting. Somewhat literally too. The best feeling in the world is making myself feel lonely (without actually being alone). It's the same kind of catharsis as punching a pillow just to get rid of excess rage and testosterone. Hurting isn't one of those songs, so I will say no more on the topic. Hurting is an amazing synthpoppy tune that gripped me as soon as I heard it. Melancholy lyrics <3. Matter of fact, take a Gem Line award for "Gotta let this go, gotta feel some warmth on my own." This is what you must do after a heartbreak. Stay single. Heal thyself. Possibly have a bit of fun in the meantime. Not a bad thing to be able to do that. And also the video is kinda cool.

There's no Friendly Fires song that inspires more energy in me than Hawaiian Air. Year or so old - in fact, I remember waltzing up to my friends' place in my suburb last year (they don't live there this year) with this playing on the radlio. It runs along similar lines to Zimbabwe by New Navy (love!) - take a fuckin' holiday. I wouldn't mind a bit of Hawaii. It's also just so dancy. Fast dancy, but I ain't complaining about that. Also wouldn't mind hearing this song on repeat for a little while. In fact, I'mma go do that after this review is done. And then I might grab a glass of freshly-squeezed orange juice in one of those tall glasses and ice and an umbrella... and you know the rest. BEACH. SUNSET. ORANGE JUICE. Who doesn't love that stuff?

So what of Blue Cassette (Tiga Remix)? Well, I gotta confess, I never heard the original. But in all honesty, I don't need to. There isn't much about this song that isn't awesome, though probably a bit bass-heavy at the start of the song, then it melts into a beautiful summer song. And it mentions cassettes! I mean, hell, who uses cassettes any more? Okay, so vinyl is making a re-surface, but cassettes aren't. Vinyl was the bomb, so faithful. Cassettes weren't. The tapes twisted and stretched (though some funky sounds were made when that happened). Don't get me wrong, I loved cassettes (video and audio), but I was relieved when they took a step back for CDs and mp3s. Much love for Blue Cassette (Tiga Remix). Not overly fond when it gets bassy again near the end, but I can cut that out if I ever want to use it.

Wow. One to go. And what better way to end than by covering a cover? IMO this sounds better than the Lykke Li (love!) version, but that's probably a matter of taste more than anything. Hell, it's piano and it's a dude whose falsetto is actually not too bad. Don't ask me what the cover was in aid of, mind; it completely escapes me. It also escapes my best Internet tracking efforts (at 2am). I am happy that the song is this fun and pianoey, but it's over way too fast. Sad now. Which means the review is also over. Very sad now. But hey, there's heaps more Friendly Fires stuff. In fact, I'll just leave this here and begone.
My only gripe with Friendly Fires is that Ed Macfarlane can't dance well in the videos. But he looks like he's having fun so I'm not complaining any more.