Fickle Friends - Are We Gonna Be Alright?

There’s a peppy familiarity to Fickle Friends on ‘Are We Gonna Be Alright?’. The Brighton band’s second full-length proper is largely a route through conventional, shiny, to-the-point pop. So when it hits the mark, theirs is as radio-friendly a sound as it comes: ‘Pretty Great’ has the kind of well-worn chord changes that are at once familiar and nostalgic, ‘IRL’ possesses an earwormy chorus, and Natti Shiner’s breathy, matter-of-fact vocal often brings to mind Sky Ferreira’s through the record’s twelve tracks. Unfortunately, it also often misses the mark. It’s a well-worn trope that it takes some doing for spoken-word breaks to work mid-song, and theirs, in the otherwise fine ‘Glow’ really doesn‘t, and it isn’t until penultimate number ‘Won’t Hurt Myself’ that it feels as if anything here has its own distinct identity.