FRIENDLY FIRES - Pala

The Friendly Fires trio (hailing from St. Albans, Hertfordshire) achieved excellent results three years ago with their self-titled debut album, which ranks without doubt among the most inspired and refined moments of the so-called British nu-rave scene, above all thanks to its ability to unfurl a golden bridge of groove and dancing melodies stretched between the extremes of Rapture and Klaxons. Ed Macfarlane's band now returns with a new record, recorded with the help of Paul Epworth (already present on one track of the previous work) and Chris Zane, which puts forward a far from negligible claim (a credible rival might be, were it not for its overly mocking melancholy, "The English Riviera" by Metronomy) to be the perfect soundtrack for the holiday summer now at the door.

The band doesn't attempt any overly drastic revolutions, but instead focuses on a carefully calibrated work of stylistic refinement, translating it all into an elegant dance-pop artefact, painstakingly engraved in every last curve. The result is a fluid sonic substance, perfectly malleable and enveloping, which lets itself be shaped into dynamic, accessible forms, full of movement and darting colors. A record like "Pala" also demonstrates the substantial continuity of English pop, a language that grows and is reborn by sprouting from itself, evolving step by step through repeated quotation: indeed, if the splendid "Running Away" rattles along with the acid machinery of vintage Madchester, a slick, cunning track like "Hurting" brushes against the fine fabrics of certain Scritti Politti, soaking them in a fizzy, lustful hedonism worthy of George Michael, before giving itself over to the sophisticated, ultracool pop-soul of "Pala" (reminiscent of Matt Bianco or even Blow Monkeys, to name an old thoroughbred recently back on the track). Elsewhere the group shows it has absorbed, with taste and sufficient mimetic skill, the lesson of old and new French masters of rhythm (the more than commendable "Show Me The Lights", "Hawaiian Air" or "Pull Me Back To Earth"), as well as having annotated with fervent dedication the ever-relevant talmud of all the usual New Order and Talking Heads.

With its blend of multicolored liqueurs twisting together in endless spirals, "Pala" takes on the coming summer with fresh, fruity-flavored songs, perfectly suited both to poolside flirtations and to Dionysian dances amid the mass solitude of dancing crowds. Spiritual and lustful at once, this band extends an invitation that will be difficult, if not downright impossible, to resist.

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27/05/2011