A DIY INDIEPOP VINYL & CASSETTE LABEL

Vinyl

Mirrored Daughters - Mirrored Daughters [12"]

Artist: Mirrored Daughters
Title: Mirrored Daughters
Format: 12” black vinyl
Cat#: Fika106LP
Release date: 21st February 2025
Bandcamp | Spotify

Fika presents Mirrored Daughters - an album of lo-fi folk-pop and explorative woodland meditations from members of Firestations, The Leaf Library and Marlody. Bright-eyed, melodic music inspired by travels in Epping Forest as much as it was by spontaneous collaboration, these 11 tracks deliver an intriguing journey through (and beyond) the forest - crystal clear melancholy interspersed with benign drone rituals. 

The music on their self-titled debut takes a step away from the widescreen production of the artists’ other groups and instead revels in the instinctive, warm tones of acoustic instruments; guitars, cellos, clarinet, a harmonium and bells providing the earthy sonic environment for these spacious songs. 

Starting out as quickly-recorded acoustic guitar and bass pieces by Lewis Young (Leaf Library drummer) they were then taken up by Mike Cranny (guitarist and singer in fellow Walthamstow travellers Firestations), cellist Hannah Reeves and additional Leaf Library member Matt Ashton. Each added parts remotely, engineered in their home studios, before singer Marlody brought her crystalline voice to the music; layered harmonies and twisting, looping phrases that tie the story together.  

Alongside these sketches were Lewis’s trips to the forest with a train of bells and a battered old violin, all dragged through mud, fallen leaves and brambles to create otherworldly yet natural sounds - music that sounds like it’s sprung from the forest floor. Lewis likens this ritual to “uncovering music that’s always been… a summoning of spirit folk, used to appearing in autumn, taking a pilgrimage through forests with joy and frivolity. A Miyazaki-meets-Chaucer kinda vibe.” 

While the music is inhabited by these eerie and historic landscapes - camps, iron age forts, the folklore and the golden atmosphere of autumn - the lyrics speak to more personal (if occasionally abstract) concerns, both revelling in the escape enabled by the forest and worrying about the encroaching city at the edge of it. There are dreams of leaving (“Leave the sound and your heavy head behind” from first single City Song, “Silently running at the moment of waking” from Waiting At The Water) and fear of stasis (“I fell over in my sleep again, a head all cloudy with fine rain, depthless in the breaking day, tiredness is waiting, serpentine” from Unreturning Sun). 

The band name, taken from lyrics posited by Mike during the lyric writing process, perfectly encapsulates the atmosphere conjured here, neither sinister nor wholly comforting, unknown yet alluring. As author Will Ashon says in the sleeve notes to the album (an excerpt from his book Strange Labyrinth published by Granta Books), “Everything is always changing in Epping Forest. There’s the yearly cycle of growth and death, of course, and the daily iteration of this in new buds, new blossom, new leaves, dead blossom, dead leaves and so on, the tiny, inconsequential shifts which gradually add up to something more”.

From the album opener, the gently sinister Mirror Descend, to the skyward-looking, hopeful closing track of Mirror Ascend, this collection of songs and rituals leaves space for the listener to take their own journey through a half-real, half-imagined landscape, before emerging changed, re-entering the borderlands at the boundary of the suburban sprawl.

Biographies:

Mirrored Daughters are Marlody, Mike (Firestations), Matt and Lewis (The Leaf Library), and Hannah.

Marlody (Skep Wax) is a singer/songwriter based in Kent. Dominated by her extraordinary keyboard playing, Marlody’s songs are illuminated - and sometimes made sinister - by occasional bursts of programmed percussion, submarine bass and distant, chiming digital bells. 

Firestations (Lost Map Records) span genres from shoegaze to alt-pop and harmony-driven psychedelia. Their second album, The Year Dot, released in 2018, was followed by sonic collage album Dream Home in 2020 and the Automatic Tendencies EP project in 2020-21. The latter took the form of three EPs over a six-month period, each including alternative “sunken” versions by the band as well as covers and remixes of the band’s tracks by other artists. Thick Terrain, released in 2023, saw Firestations return to album format with ten tracks ranging from hypnotic sci-fi landscapes to addictive dream-pop jangles, exploring ideas around identity, conflict, progress and sanity.

The Leaf Library (WIAIWYA) are a north London band playing melodic dream-like music built on layers of chiming guitars, pulsing electronics, noise and looping drones. They have released three studio albums (Daylight Versions, About Minerals, The World Is A Bell) and a double LP of rarities and compilation tracks (Library Music: Volume One) on Where It’s At Is Where You Are, a collaborative LP with Japanese artist Teruyuki Kurihara (Melody Tomb) on electronic label Mille Plateaux, and a recent EP of electronic pop songs on the Castles In Space label.

Sunturns - Christmas III [12"]

Artist: Sunturns
Title: Christmas III
Format: 12” transparent & purple splatter vinyl
Cat#: Fika105LP
Release date: 6th December 2024
Bandcamp | Spotify

The Norwegian super-group with members from Making Marks, The Little Hands of Asphalt, Mildfire, Flight Mode and Elva return with a third album of original Christmas songs. 

Get into that alternative, Nordic Christmas spirit!

Christmas III at its heart is an alt-Christmas album: the songs are firmly rooted in December’s festivities, albeit not usually relying on the season’s traditional reference points. The songs hone in on the more ambivalent sides of Christmas - family, customs and the passing of time - with a keen eye towards the holidays’ most obvious function in countries close to the Artic circle: getting through the cold and dark times to celebrate the winter solstice and the turning of the sun. 

Drawing from Sufjan Stevens’ epic indie Christmas compendium and Phil Spector’s wall of sound classic A Christmas Gift From You, Christmas III is built on shimmering guitars, snow filled piano lines, gentle strings, springy vocals and dynamic drums - all steadily conducted by Sunturns’ own Sjur Lyseid (Flight Mode, The Little Hands of Asphalt) in the producer’s seat at his Globus studio in Oslo.

Songs like "I Do", "New Snow", "Colibri Heart" and "The Day Before the Day", have indeed been released as singles in the years after 2015, but the record is also packed with new Christmas songs about sunstroke, winter depression and everything other belonging. Beautiful First Winter was the first taste of the album already in October, and the Christmas singles Crash Course Christmas and Back in Town will make the Christmas bells ring in the right way.

With three songwriters (Ola Innset, Einar Stray and Sjur Lyseid) contributing to Christmas III, there’s an ever shifting sense of reflections. Parenthood and the struggles of the dark Norwegian winter is behind Ola’s track First Winter. “Some times I feel bad about bringing children into such a difficult world. Not so much with respect to daylight and the seasons, they’re just going to have to learn how to live with it, but with many other things – like war, poverty, climate change and even just death.” 

Back In Town might have been inspired by a discussion over whether Thin Lizzy’s “The Boys Are Back In Town” is a Christmas song or not, but it’s written about his youngest daughter Klara, to his elder daughter, about taking holidays with your family in a town you once lived.

Einar pulls in Phoenix and Mew by the way of Jesus and Mary Chain on Crash Course Christmas, resulting in a seasick wave of a pop tune. “It’s a song about the guilt of not prioritizing your relationships. It’s been year of rainchecks and Christmas finally gives you some time to reflect. You’ve experienced so much and changed so much as a person that you almost forget your origins. Coming home for Christmas can then be a ritiual of finding your way back to what you left behind."

Drawing on the knitwear from the film Love, Actually, Turtle Neck, taps into the Backstreet Boys by way of Mac Demarco, with a sneaky reference to the legendary Norwegian Christmas hit En Stjerne Skinner I Natt.

Album closer This Christmas / Next Christmas leans in on the hook for the Norwegian Christmas TV show Jul i Blåfjell, a multi-generational seasonal staple (essentially a daily children’s advent calendar kids show). “The song is about your parents ageing and needing your help – possibly really far away - while at the same time having your own children to take care of”.

If previous albums Christmas I (2011) and II (2015) are somewhat different from each other, then Christmas III represents a fusion of the two. Sunturns’ debut is full of youthful exuberance and was recorded with plentiful overdubs in Oslo, while 2015’s follow up is more pensive and somewhat darker, and was recorded live during one week in the Swedish forests. Einar elaborates: “I love making records like this: short, effective sessions with limited time and therefore no bland ‘perfection’. There’s a nerve to knowing you can collectively bring it all together without the luxury of time”. Christmas III represents a return to the lighter tone, on at least some of the songs, but with the wisdom of age that emerged on the second. You can’t just return to your twenties, however much you might want to!

The cover artwork is a homage to Christmas dress codes for Norwegian men. Suits and shirts are a rarity in day to day life, but there are a handful of occasions that require some form of formal attempt at a suit: New Year’s Eve, National Day, weddings & funerals, and Christmas Eve: resulting in various degrees of sartorial elegance on the day (and on this instance, a hot summer’s day stifling the Christmas vibes, with ambiguous apparel instructions ahead of the photoshoot!).

Sunturns will reconvene again in December for their annual Oslo show, complete with string section and choir at Parkteatret on the 13th of December.

Merry Christmas!

Sunturns are
Ola Innset – vocals, guitars, banjo
Sjur Lyseid – vocals, guitars
Einar Stray – vocals, keyboards, guitars
Eivind Almhjell – guitars, bass
Simen Herning – guitar
Jørgen Nordby – drums

“This is little Christmas music for people who don't like Christmas music, but with a Christmassy twist to it. With musicians from Little Hands of Asphalt and Making Marks, this is a sure hit for a hipper Christmas.” Aftenposten [5/6]

“There’s a Ronettes-style introduction to the album opener ‘New Snow’. This evolves into a jangle pop sound – complete with M Ward-esque guitar, choral backing vocals and self-reflection: I’ve been taking it too slow, now there’s blood in the snow’. Lead single ‘Crash Course Christmas’ follows with crashing drums and glockenspiel for that extra festive touch. Reminiscent of Los Campesinos’ Christmas EP, there’s air of heartbreak as they sing ‘Tonight I missed the sound of stupid Christmas songs I sang with you’. Sunturns’ ‘Christmas III’ is a warming soundtrack to a special, emotional time." Spectral Nights

“the album might find its way under more Christmas trees than Santa can handle” Nordic Music Central

“I have to feature this beauty” The Ginger Quiff

Stereogum

That’s Good Enough For Me

Fightmilk - No Souvenirs [12"/CD]

Artist: Fightmilk
Title: No Souvenirs
Format: 12” vinyl on paddling pool blue | digifile CD
Cat#: Fika104
Release date: 15th November 2024
Bandcamp | Spotify

Following the runaway success of their critically acclaimed 2021 second album Contender, the question for fast-rising London four-piece Fightmilk was always going to be “what next?” With a tight indie-pop sound that defined their early recordings, the answer was obvious to a band who seem hellbent on the notion of evolve or die…

The band originally formed in 2015 in a Brixton pub garden by Lily and Alex, who had both, separately, just been dumped and thought being in an angry punk band would cheer them up. Then they found Nick and Healey to hold the rhythm down and make them sound good. With three albums under their belt, they’ve perfected their chaotic, melodic brand of joy and rage-filled pop with full-throated yelling and sparkling guitar riffs as their trademark. They’ve graduated from angsty whippersnappers in their mid-twenties to overgrown teenage 30-somethings with mild ongoing back and shoulder pain.

Their previous two albums Not With That Attitude (2018) and Contender (2021) marked them out as an ambitious and rising prospect, and now on their forthcoming new album No Souvenirs the band eschew their former Britpop ties and edge further into DIY punk and heavier rock influences to reveal a leaner, meaner, more abrasive side to their cathartic lo-fi anthems.

Whilst collectively diving into their passion for Jimmy Eat World, frontwoman Lily Rae made a conscious decision to strengthen her “big loud yell” with influence from Alicia Bognanno (Bully), Nat Foster (Press Club), and Missy Dabice (Mannequin Pussy). “My voice is the biggest it’s ever been and I’m constantly thrilled when people are surprised at how loud I am, considering I’m so small in stature,” she grins. “Lyrically I always look to Bruce Springsteen for inspiration but I also really enjoyed the angsty candour of Sour by Olivia Rodrigo, and Kacey Musgraves’ impeccable one-liners.”

There are a few genre experiments on the record—Yo La Tengo in ‘Paddling Pool’, ‘Canines’ is part The Strokes and part Neu!, and ‘Back From Tour’ was heavily influenced by long term friends Johnny Foreigner. “You could probably make a case for ‘Inferno’ having a bit of Counting Crows to it, but we were never writing to emulate,” explains guitarist Alex. “The references and touchstones just happened along the way. As far as we’re concerned, they just sound like Fightmilk - and that’s a really nice place to be nearly a decade in.”

“As a songwriter, I’ve disciplined myself to keep to ‘first thought best thought’ more, and not overwork lyrics and melodies into the ground - the line that needs to be there is usually the most obvious one,” says Lily of the process for this record. “As we’ve become more collaborative as writers, you can hear Healey’s DIY punk influence come in more, and Nick’s heavier rock influences. We’re more secure in keeping weird sh*t in, and not adding or cutting things because it feels like we’re supposed to.”

“That said, we’ve also been REALLY picky with the songs that made it onto the album - there’s probably another album’s worth of songs that didn’t feel right, even if we loved them. We got really good at finding the “magic thing” in each song that made it work.”

Spilling over with candid lyrics about death, doomed love, and dog bites, framed by endless punk energy and the kind of full-throated riff-rock that sounds just at home in a giant stadium as it does in a sticky-floored toilet bar, No Souvenirs is a triumphant return from the band, who are equally enthused by the album.

“It’s easily our best one yet,” says Lily of the record. “I want every track on it to be a Sunfly Karaoke song one day. It’s a big growly, grungy album with a healthy amount of yelling - but there’s lots of humour in it, too. Ideally it’s played very loudly with the bass turned up, three beers deep, and singing along to all the choruses.”

With the quartet about 75% finished making their previous album Contender when Covid hit, a lot of their grand plans required a rethink. A heavily produced record, when the band were finally allowed to start playing shows again they found that some of the more elaborate songs ended up falling by the wayside. “On the plus side, it reminded us how much joy and catharsis we found in making a screaming racket in front of people,” says Alex on the genesis of the new album. “No Souvenirs was written with that joy and catharsis as a starting point.”

Recorded at Dean Street Studios in Soho, London over 2 or 3 manic weekends in 2022/23, new album No Souvenirs was produced by Keith TOTP, engineered by Sam Hogg and Tom Quigley, and mixed and mastered by Adrian Hall.

With no label and no plan, Fightmilk agreed they would just make the best album they could and worry about the logistics after the fact. “That took quite a lot of pressure off, and allowed us to relax in the studio and be a bit more creative on the day,” remembers Lily. “We’ve never finished writing songs whilst in the studio before, and similarly never had so many songs finished that we could shelve the ones we weren’t 100% sure on, so we had the shared experience of two albums behind us and a lot of hard work and discipline when it came to making sure the songs were exactly what they needed to be.”

“I only realised after we put the songs together how personal to me this album was,” explains Lily. “Not just because I’m writing about extremely specific sitcom episodes in my life (getting fired from bridesmaid duty, being bitten on the arse by a dog, being relentlessly asked when I’m going to have kids), but because whilst we were making it, I turned 30. It’s a significant age for women, especially in music, because aside from being something called a ‘geriatric millennial’, there’s an unspoken rule that there’s a cut-off point for you to have ‘made it’ and after that you have to settle down and be normal.”

“The music industry is freakishly obsessed with women’s youth and anyone older than 25 is considered ancient. (I’m maybe the world’s biggest Japanese Breakfast fan and there’s an interview with Michelle Zauner where she talks about this way more eloquently.) But when I hit 30, I felt like I was only just starting to have anything interesting to say, and had so much more curiosity and enthusiasm for everything!”

For Lily, writing for the album also aligned with the tenth anniversary of the death of a close friend, with the resulting track ‘No Souvenirs’ lending its title to the album as a whole. “It had taken me that long to write about it in a way I felt ok with. But I realised that I couldn’t have written it before,” she explains. “I needed that distance, and that maturity, to be able to articulate those feelings. It feels to me now like the album is about scorched earth, moving on, taking nothing with you for the next ‘thing’ - and realising that getting older is a privilege.”

When it comes to personal favourite tracks, Lily earmarks ‘Paddling Pool’ as her highlight. “It’s a step away from our usual big grungy pop fare, and we got to experiment with some really floaty, quieter sounds. It was nice to do Lucy Dacus singing instead of Courtney Love singing. ‘That Thing You Did’ has my favourite chorus, though. I never thought we’d write an earworm.”

The album’s artwork is, as ever for Fightmilk, meticulously crafted and filled with meaning. A framed display case full of…well, souvenirs…there’s one for each of the songs, and a bunch that aren’t.

“We’re very into visual metaphors here at Fightmilk,” laughs Lily. “No Souvenirs means exactly that—you can’t take it with you. I’m a really sentimental keepsake-hoarder and I’ve got letters, birthday cards, empty perfume bottles, button badges, and all sorts from years ago. I can’t bring myself to say goodbye to them but, without being morbs about it, even if I hold onto these physical memories my whole life, someone’s probably going to put them in the bin when I die. There’s also a bit of that being a hangover from my 20s and trying not to bring any of that angst and self-doubt and uncertainty with me into the next part of my life.”

Bringing a huge amount of energy and joy with them whenever and wherever they hit a stage, interacting with the audience is a vital part of the Fightmilk live experience. “Without people singing and dancing at us we wouldn’t have gigs at all, so we want everyone to get involved!” says Lily of the band’s future tour plans. “I love hopping offstage and wandering through the crowd with a microphone, demanding people name a famous dog, so whatever happens there will always be crowd participation… oh, and bring earplugs. We’re really loud.”

Fightmilk is Lily, Alex, Healey and Nick - a London-based four-piece who write sweaty, loud, shouty pop songs. Formed in the beer gardens of South London in 2015, the band quickly drew attention with their debut album Not With That Attitude (Reckless Yes, 2018) - singled out by Drowned In Sound for its “package of massive, Godzilla-heft hooks” and “crack–like melodies.” Gaining support from 6Music and Radio X, the band swiftly hopped in the van to play shows with the likes of Art Brut, Desperate Journalist and Nova Twins, as well as touring Germany.

Not letting a seismic global clusterfuck stand in their way, the band released their second LP Contender in 2021 via Reckless Yes. Described as “a joyous riot from start to finish” by Kerrang, it was an album with something to prove, adding stacked harmonies, analog drum machines and even heftier riffs to the band’s arsenal, while still remaining decidedly true to the band’s spiky indiepop sound. As soon as they were released from lockdown they began a near relentless gigging schedule, taking in multiple trips around the UK, support slots with Johnny Foreigner, mclusky and Problem Patterns, plus a sold-out 2022 headline slot at Norway’s Indiefjord Festival, where a sweat-soaked Fightmilk crowdsurfed their way offstage at midnight only to find it was still light outside.

The band’s eighth year in action has seen them writing and recording their third album, to be released in late 2024 on Fika Recordings & INH Records. Fightmilk have turned the distortion up and the indiepop down with rougher and rawer songs about body image, death, and being fired from bridesmaid duty.

“Having listened to this album for the last few weeks I’m still undecided what my favourite track is, or which I’d suggest is the standout. The same happened when I reviewed Contender. I think Alex hits the nail on the head when he says they just sound like Fightmilk, which is reason enough to buy this album, and play on repeat” Louder Than War [5/5]

“No Souvenirs is a smorgasbord of raw emotion, musical intelligence, juxtaposition and realism all wrapped into twelve songs that remind you that feeling bitterness may not be a bad thing after all. It’s certainly going to help Fightmilk on their quest across Britain and beyond.” Noizze [8/10]

“No Souvenirs wants to be a great album and wears that ambition on its face; there’s no shame about going bigger. If anything, it’s what makes Fightmilk excel at a rate far beyond their peers. The best of both worlds isn’t some unscalable summit, and No Souvenirs is set-in-stone proof how much it can achieve.” The Soundboard

“Offering rage, joy, and catharsis, FIGHTMILK lay it all on the table on No Souvenirs” Distorted Sound

“Masterfully produced and faultlessly performed, it’s easy, melodic and relaxed, and it demonstrates – to anyone who may have any doubts remaining – that Fightmilk are much, much more than a power pop generating machine.” At The Barrier

“Their ability to match cutting sarcasm with big catchy tunes and their propensity for penning a pitch perfect sad banger made them an instant hit in Joyzine HQ.” JoyZine [Track by Track]

“No Souvenirs is an invitation to shed past baggage, scream louder, and embrace the messiness of living. For a band nearing a decade, Fightmilk has managed to keep their music youthful yet matured. They are proof that getting older can be liberating.” Amplify The Noise

“the album is encrusted with jangly indie-pop jewels such as Canines, Yearning and Pining, and Inferno, which deftly suck out all the Aussie slacker-pop drawl of the Quivers aesthetic to just leave everything that is perfect about three-minute jangly indie-pop when it is conveyed with precocious British aloof” Jangle Pop Hub

“enticing and clever; satirical at times but not haphazard or misguided” Ghost Cult Mag

“This will definitely be getting more time on my stereo and is certain to be in my Top 3 Records Of The Year.” The Counterforce

“Driving guitar chords, ecstatic pop-rock choruses: With playfulness and passion, the London band deals with destructive ideals of beauty, their own grief and much more.” Frequenz Magazine

“paired with an array of luscious melodies that are delivered in various forms. ‘Summer Bodies’ is a spunky mix of indie-punk and doo-wop. ‘Inferno’ swirls with a laid-back power-pop quality” Already Heard [Behind The Artwork]

New Starts - More Break-Up Songs [12"/CD]

Artist: New Starts
Title: More Break-Up Songs
Format: 12” vinyl | digifile CD | digital
Cat#: Fika102
Release date: 16th August 2024
Bandcamp | Spotify

New Starts are a spikey, fresh sounding band recalling the poppier ends of new wave and angular guitar rock. Their influences include The Cars, Breeders, Bay City Rollers, The Velvet Underground and ZZ Top.

Lead singer Darren Hayman has his own long career running from the late 90s with John Peel faves Hefner to his more recent thematic and historical albums dealing with the English Civil War, William Morris and forgotten rural idylls. 

“I wanted a band again,” says Hayman, “and not a band that just backed me up and played my old songs. When we form our first bands in our teens we just find some friends and work through the musical differences. I usually look for players who play in a way I’m used to. This time I looked for variance and was led by people’s personality.”

Guitarist Joely Smith [of South London’s noise-pop adults and recently DIY-punks Fresh] was recommended by a mutual friend who said, ‘She makes everything better’. Hayman and Smith shared a coffee and agreed on the correct number of guitar pedals and decided to proceed without an audition.

“There is a tendency for me to make my chords too pretty. Joely cuts against that and plays in the opposite direction.” Hayman is a fan of rules and constraints and employed a new, oblique strategy on this record. “Even though I wrote all the songs, I wanted the songs to belong to everyone during arrangement. I decided that I would say ‘yes’ to every suggestion from the band, regardless of my instinct.”

This made the songs warp and bend into new shapes and ensured that the record was the product of four individuals. Bassist Giles Barrett and drummer Will Connor come from funky afro beat influenced band Tigercats. “Pretty much the only rhythm I use, left to my own devices, is the ‘road runner’ rhythm. Will takes to care to find where the drum beat can be and we always end up somewhere I didn’t expect.”

More Break Up Songs is a collection of 12 Break Up songs because Darren broke up with someone. Again. “I suck’, he says, “But it’s never anyone’s fault. It makes me very sad but I do have to work through these things in song and there’s always something to learn. I try to make songs about breakups that could be understood by both parties. I’m not interested in nasty songs.”

Opening song ‘Little Stone in my Heart’ blisters along with Joely’s wildest guitars. The protagonist will do anything to make things right, but nothing ever is.

‘Under the Striplights’ has driving, choppy, incessant riffs, and is about the need to be anywhere but somewhere other than here. We could be under the moon or under the strip lights as long as we have each other.

Another barely kept rule that Darren instigated on this album was that each song would be a tonal equivalent to one from The Velvet Underground’s third album. To that end ‘Don’t Need Persuading’ is this record’s ‘Pale Blue Eyes’ with the narrator being unable to break free of a vortex, knowing they will stay the night against all better judgment. 

‘I’ve had a long standing distrust of the guitar,’ says Darren, ‘despite it being my primary instrument for twenty years. I thought it was time I made a record with two guitars and drums and bass. I wanted it to be bright, immediate and young sounding, despite the fact I’m old. We recorded it in four days and I think this might be the record a lot of my audience has wanted me to make for a long time.’

“The songs are vintage Hayman at first glance. And right from the start of ‘A Little Stone’, the Hefner crew will be delighted. But there’s an edge here that comes with the band arrangements. Dissonance, driven bass, and thudding toms. There’s an energy here that feels like a band in the right gear. There are lovely slow moments, too. The ‘Pale Blue Eyes’ of the album, ‘Don’t Need Persuading’, is up there with Hayman’s best songs.
It’s a great new project from one of our best songwriters. Spend some time in a sad, but upbeat world.” The Quietus

“He has fashioned an album overtly nodding to The Velvet Underground’s third - the dynamic flow is shared, as is the sound. The title lays out the subject matter, with songs as candid and sometimes equally wince-inducing as Hefner’s. But boy, does he sound reinvigorated.” Mojo [3/5]

“Darren Hayman weaves a personal mythology of love and loneliness…the results are sometimes humorous, sometimes tear-jerking, and never less than entertaining.” KLOF

“Tease the Corners and What I Specifically Love are classic Hayman” Scottish Express

“the clash between the former leader of Hefner and the guitarist Joely Smith, linked to noise pop, is striking, giving the compositions a more urgent and electric air” El Pais [Spanish]

“Darren Hayman was, before embarking on a versatile solo career, figurehead of Hefner. Here he diversifies even further, uniting with a band that offer fascinating parallels to his own style. Guitarist Joely Smith makes the most brilliantly caustic of combos against Hayman's own melodic playing, while the rhythm section of Giles Barrett and Will Connor add exuberance with their afrobeat background.” Norman Records

“It feels like those hazy summer days when you’re young, and things feel like they’re falling apart, but the sun’s beating down onto the tarmac and you’ve at least you’ve got yourself for company. There are moments where the record sounds like Pavement, maybe a little too much at times, with Hayman’s voice roaming freely with the same occasionally-unpolished charm as Stephen Malkmus.” Far Out

“ if songs of this quality are the expectation of Darren Hayman at this point in his career, that’s a very good thing” Add To Wantlist

“fresh, edgy sound harks back to the more poetic extremes of new wave” TV6 [Italian]

Adam Ross - Littoral Zone [12"/CD]

Artist: Adam Ross
Title: Littoral Zone
Format: 12” ecomix vinyl | digifile CD | digital
Cat#: Fika099
Release date: 24th May 2024
Bandcamp | Spotify

24th May 2024 will see the release of Littoral Zone, the second solo album by Adam Ross - a musician described by Folk Radio as "one of Scotland’s most talented singers and songwriters".

The album is produced by multiple Scottish Album Of The Year Award nominated composer and multi-instrumentalist Andrew Wasylyk and released on London record label Fika Recordings. Arts bodies Creative Scotland and Help Musicians have supported and funded the album in recognition of what is shaping up to be one of the most exciting musical collaborations of 2024.

The album is a heavily lyrical collection of warped 70s-esque indie-folk ballads inspired by Adam’s relocation to the coast. The title, Littoral Zone, is a term used to define where the sea meets the land but also a nod to a style of direct, literary observations about the people, landscapes and states of mind Adam has discovered since moving there. The lyrics cover themes of nature, politics, faith, love and death and are surrounded by Andrew’s deft production featuring luscious string ensembles and brass.

The writing of the album saw Adam move away from guitar and onto piano, having bought a slightly battered upright piano from a local antiques warehouse as a first priority after moving house in 2021. Chords, melodies and musical ideas were recorded on Adam's phone before lyrics were slowly built up during his walks on the beach and clifftops around the village of St Cyrus where he now lives.

Songs like Free Will and Union Gary chart and exaggerate the at-times ridiculous minutiae of day-to-day life, with the latter musing on British foreign policy via the prism of an unkempt garden. The Going and I Get It Wrong pay tribute to the natural beauty and mystery of coastal landscapes while Brambles falls into the musical tradition of the murder ballad, with a story loosely based on an amalgamation of true events. The album's darker edges can also be discovered in Shrinking and Ego which dwell on aging and self-doubt, however Apogee looks to counterbalance such themes with a pure outpouring of love.

The album sees Adam at his most musically ambitious and precise. In contrast to his more lo-fi and DIY previous work, Littoral Zone is a painstakingly crafted record which celebrates collaboration. Andrew Wasylyk's production and multi-instrumentalist performances bring sonic sophistication which is further heightened by Pete Harvey's heart-stirring string arrangements. Gillian Fleetwood's yearning vocals are a constant highlight throughout the album, as is Rachel Simpson's exquisite brass playing. Ultimately, Littoral Zone is an album of stories and Adam's lyrical knack shines throughout.

“Littoral Zone feels like a landmark album in Adam Ross’s career, a kind of synthesis of the most impressive elements of his full band and solo work up until this point. Those in the know have long been aware of his immense gifts as a songwriter; in a fair world, this literate, funny, humane album would cement his status as a national treasure.” KLOF

“Littoral Zone, the second solo album from Randolph’s Leap frontman Adam Ross, was inspired by his move to the Aberdeenshire coast and the purchase of a piano on which he has played out a fondness for Seventies MOR pop songwriting. Fellow pianist Andrew Wasylyk produces and there are delicate embellishments on strings, brass and vocals from Pete Harvey, Rachel Simpson and Gillian Fleetwood, making their presence felt with the spry orchestration on Apogee, uplifting arrangement of Union Gary and the soft, gospelly vocal counterpoint to the aching lyrics of Ego. The title track pushes further into southern soul territory while the murder ballad-inspired Brambles boldly rhymes “Banchory” with “Tanqueray”."“ The Scostman * * *

Mammoth Penguins - Here [12"/CD]

Artist: Mammoth Penguins
Title: Here
Format: 12” gatefold LP on orange smoke vinyl / digipack CD
Cat#: Fika100
Release date: 3rd May 2024
Bandcamp | Spotify

Mammoth Penguins are a 3-piece indie powerhouse, showcasing the songwriting and vocal talents of Emma Kupa (Standard Fare) backed up by the noisiest rhythm section in indie pop.

May 2024 sees the release of their fourth album Here on Fika Recordings. After 2019’s big, bold and confident There’s No Fight We Can’t Both Win, and the initial shock of the global pandemic cancelling a trip to SXSW in 2020, the band returned to the studio in the summer of 2021 to start recording.

The new record leans into a raw pop-punk power-trio sound more than ever, with a deep growl in layered guitars and bursts of percussion and harmony. The songs and artwork explore themes about finding a place for yourself and familiarity with people and places. Although it turns back towards a classic three-piece sound, the band weren’t restricted by that palette, adding finishing touches of percussion, extra guitars and backing vocals in short bursts in a garden shed, and also bringing in gorgeous strings to sweeten the title track.

The sound builds on the band’s first album, Hide and Seek, which was released with the much-loved and sorely missed Fortuna POP! in 2015. The follow-up LP John Doe in 2017 was an ambitious concept album, exploring the feelings of loss and anger at a man who fakes his own death only to return years later, expanding well beyond the 3-piece rock‘n’roll template, with washes of strings, synths and samples.

The ‘Penguins have been smashing it at some high-profile support slots in the lead up to this album release, including at Allo Darlin’s joyous reunion at Islington Assembly Hall (Oct 2023) and Muncie Girls last ever London show (Dec 2023). They play the Leicester Indiepop all-dayer and Wales Goes Pop in March, before heading out on tour in support of the new album in May.
Those big singalong choruses need your voice shouting back from the crowd with joy and defiance. 

Mammoth Penguins are Emma Kupa (guitar, vocals), Mark Boxall (bass, vocals) and Tom Barden (drums, vocals). Reminiscent of the pop melodies of The Beths, the indie dissonance of Land of Talk, and the guitar forward slacker rock of Weezer, Mammoth Penguins marry heart-ache indiepop with spiky guitars and Emma’s frank confessional songwriting.

Press for Here

“Here has a genuine, down-to-earth quality, like old friends on a lunch date chatting about life. The pieces work together beautifully. It’s a heavy album, but it’s comforting in a way that creates a place for your head and feels like home.” Noizze [7/10]

“showcases the best of the band’s talents, and the various forays into different genres work because they give them enough time to make an impact… the band sound on top of their game” Distorted Sound [7/10]

“On Here, the band sounds like Cambridge’s answer to The Beths, or vice versa as a a matter of fact considering Mammoth Penguins predates The Beths by a couple of years. Both bands have a similar knack for putting the purest pop melodies in a punchy package, skillfully balancing saccharine hooks with a touch of bittersweetness. It’s a formula that perfectly complements Kupa’s distinctive voice, which not only carries but also enriches the songs.” Add To Wantlist

“There is something ineffably uplifting about their music and they use the holy triad of guitar (Emma Kupa), bass (Mark Boxall) and drums (Tom Barden) to incredible effect, knowing when to woo the audience with soft riffs and charming melodies and when to stomp the screws out of the distortion pedal and get the heartbeat racing” JoyZine [track by track]

“irresistible, straight out of the traps, racing forward and never looking back” Hit The North

“What the album really leaves you with, though, is the sense that there is an emotional core underneath the rock stylings. ‘I Know The Signs’ is alt-country (with shades of Courtney Barnett), and reflects on a relationship going south” Get In Her Ears

“Throughout the album, Emma’s vocals soar with a rawness and vulnerability that cuts straight to the heart. From the introspective introspection of “Blue Plaque” to the anthemic energy of “Nothing and Everything,” Mammoth Penguins invite one to join them on a journey of self-discovery and musical exploration. A journey that is as exhilarating as it is deeply personal.” Amplify The Noise

“Here is full of sharply-rendered stuff, with each cut delivering hooks and heart” A Pessimist Is Never Disappointed

“a soft pop punk album resembling the likes of Weezer” Alt Corner

Alison Eales - Four for a Boy [7"]

Artist: Alison Eales
Title: Four for a Boy
Format: 7” vinyl EP | digital
Cat#: Fika101
Release date: 8th March 2024
Bandcamp | Spotify

Following the release of her debut solo album Mox Nox last year, Four for a Boy is a four-track EP of songs co-written by Alison Eales and her long-term collaborator Garry Hoggan.

Like its sister record Mox Nox, the EP was recorded and mixed by Paul Savage at Chem 19 studios, mastered by Reuben Taylor, and features artwork by Rhian Nicholas at The Passenger Press – but in a departure from the approach to the album, Four for a Boy keeps its arrangements sparse in order to showcase Hoggan’s gift for melody.

The songs

The lead track is Minuet, a minimalist love song that pits its protagonists against zombies and nanobots and which is accompanied by a lyric video by magician Billy Reid.

Rain Song, with its drip-drip-dripping ukulele and piano, captures the experience of suffering with depression, while the shining autoharp and accordion of The Earliest Blue expresses the hope of recovery. These are also accompanied by an animated lyric video.

The EP closes with Play Along, a plaintive reimagining of the Carpenters’ Superstar.

Alison Eales

Alison is a long-standing member of the band Butcher Boy, playing piano, accordion and other keyboards as well as arranging for choir and brass. She is also a member of Glasgow Madrigirls and has collaborated with bands including The Color Waves (USA), The Very Most (USA), The Just Joans (Glasgow), Featherfin (Norway) and The Powdered Earth (UK).

Her debut solo album Mox Nox was released on Fika Recordings in March 2023.

“Delightful is also one of the apt descriptions for Alison Eales’ Four for a Boy EP, a sweet collection fuelled by ukuleles, accordions and charming vocals. It could be the ideal antidote to tough days.” Snack Mag

“Four songs is all you get and four songs is that you need when you are in the company of Alison Eales. Her eloquent sentimentalism stole my heart a long time ago and I won’t be asking for it back anytime soon. Pure class”. Blues Bunny

“supremely talented” Glasgow Music City

Steven Adams - Drops [12”/CD]

Artist: Steven Adams
Title: Drops
Format: 12” vinyl LP | digipack CD
Cat#: Fika098LP | Fika098CD
Release date: 10th November 2023
Bandcamp | Spotify

“A national musical treasure" The Guardian

Steven Adams, formerly of The Broken Family Band releases new album DROPS on Fika Recordings in November 2023.

Since calling time on TBFB at the height of their success, Adams has released half a dozen albums under various names (Singing Adams, Steven James Adams, Steven Adams & The French Drops), his witty, incisive lyrics and melodic sensibilities taking in DIY indie rock, folky introspection, and off-kilter pop hooks. 

Originally from South Wales, Adams now lives in East London.

“Every record I’ve made has been in a hurry of some sort” says Adams of his new album, “and with this one I took my time”. DROPS is the first album to be credited to him as a solo artist since 2016’s Old Magick, his first new music since 2020, and his noisiest record to date.

Armed with a new batch of material, he began by upping sticks to the Welsh countryside to experiment with drummer Daniel Fordham and bassist David Stewart - both formerly of psych oddballs The Drink. The trio then took the songs to Big Jelly, a converted chapel on the south coast, with co-producer Simon Trought (Comet Gain, Johnny Flynn, The Wave Pictures) to lay down the basic tracks for DROPS.

Eschewing a full band set up (“I wanted to concentrate on one thing at a time”), recording sessions in East London followed with Laurie Earle (Absentee) on guitar and Michael Wood (Hayman Kupa Band, Michaelmas) on keyboards.

Adams then took the recordings home and to the French countryside, to work alone.“I finally got my head around home recording in 2020, while things were a bit quiet. Once I worked out how to record things I realised I didn’t have to think about time. I could let the songs evolve and change once we had the basic tracks down. After a while I started to think of them as paintings; trying something one morning, painting over it in the afternoon and attempting something completely different… it was about enjoying the process, making some bangers, playing around... and giving Simon the producer a mess to sort out when it came to mixing the record". Whenever Tom from Fika Recordings checked in to see how the album was progressing Adams would reply, “it’s taking ages but it’ll sound like it was recorded in an afternoon”.

The result is a dynamic and spirited collection of songs, with Adams's love of 90/00s US underground rock (Pavement's Bob Nastanovich is a fan) to the fore.

DROPS is a sonically compelling piece of work: from bleak/exultant opener Out to Sea and the motorik Living in the Local Void to the weirdly funereal Fascists (where Adams imagines the “little skip in our steps” that we’ll have upon outliving some baddies), and Day Trip's psychedelia in miniature. There are also moments of tenderness: the avalanche of empathy on closing track Cheap Wine Sad Face, and I Tried to Keep it Light’s “worse things could happen… I don’t know how, but give me time”.

Adams says: “I'm preoccupied by the passing of time and the way it affects how we feel. This record is about time and bewilderment and trying to make sense of things".

Press for Drops:

“characteristically compelling” Uncut

“instant melodies, Adams’ intimate voice and observational lyrics… urban Britain has generated its very own equivalent of Stephen Malkmus” Mojo

“wry, heartfelt indie-pop that should resonate with anyone who enjoys sympathy in their music” Record Collector

“Adams has delivered his most satisfying album since the heady days of the Broken Family Band… clever, funny, inviting” Americana UK

“Drops still demonstrates Adams’ facility for social observation, gorgeous melodies, verbal dexterity and wordplay – with some trenchant social and political themes thrown in for good measure” Folk Radio

“Among the highpoints are opener Moderation, with some fine reverb guitar and the classic New Wave sounding Heads Keep Rolling” Neon Filler

“your favorite parts of modern indiepop sounds fused with the fuzzy pop of greats like Grandaddy” Austin Town Hall

“a spirited and witty collection of spontaneous sounding indie” Norman Records

Stanley Brinks - Good Moon [12"]

Artist: Stanley Brinks
Title: Good Moon
Format: 12" album on opaque moon coloured vinyl
Cat#: Fika096LP
Release date: 20th October 2023
Bandcamp

The prodigiously prolific Stanley Brinks’ (f.k.a. André Herman Dune) latest solo album Good Moon is a collection of love songs, of drinking songs, caught in the dusk as the sun retreats and the moon takes centre stage.

The good moon comes after the full moon, when everything comes down and you can finally get some work done - be it building a house, or a boat, or recording an album…
It's the most achieved album Stanley Brinks ever made.

Good Moon follows a series of acclaimed albums with The Wave Pictures, a pair of folk shanty and old-time calypso albums alongside Norway’s The Kaniks, and is scheduled for release shortly after another new record from Stanley, Iron Eye, this time alongside longtime collaborator and touring-partner Clemence Freschard.

Freschard appears on drums throughout Good Moon, with backing vocals from guests including anti-folk legend Jeffrey Lewis, The Burning Hell’s Mathias Kom, The Moldy Peaches’ Toby Goodshank and Maltese multimedia artist Alexandra Aquilina.

Stanley Brinks is renowned for his unique anti-folk style: both playful and suggestive, insightful and entertaining. 

Brinks was born in Paris, France, in 1973. He studied a bit of biology and worked as a nurse for a while. Half Swedish, half Moroccan, strongly inclined to travel the world, he soon began spending most of his life on the road and developed a strong relationship with New York. By the late 90s he’d become a full time singer-songwriter – André Herman Düne – as part of three piece indie-rock band, Herman Düne. Several albums and Peel sessions  later and after a decade of touring Europe, mostly with American songwriters such as Jeffrey Lewis, Calvin Johnson and early Arcade Fire he settled in Berlin. The early carnival music of Trinidad became a passion, and in the early 21st century he became the unquestioned master of European calypso, changing his name to Stanley Brinks. Under this moniker he has recorded more than 100 albums, collaborated with the New York Antifolk scene on several occasions, recorded and toured with traditional Norwegian musicians, and played a lot with The Wave Pictures.  

Freschard & Stanley Brinks - Iron Eye [12"]

Artist: Freschard & Stanley Brinks
Title: Iron Eye
Format: 12" album on transparent red vinyl
Cat#: Fika097LP
Release date: 6th October 2023
Bandcamp

Iron Eye is an irresistibly charming collection of late night tales, woozy ballads and uptempo sing-alongs. Clemence Freschard’s beautiful vocal tones lend this a rich, French indiepop/chanteuse vibe, complemented by Stanley’s wistful timbre and characteristic warm instrumentation. Iron Eye follows a succession of collaborative albums in Lion Heart, Tequila Island and Pizza Espresso in recent years.

In West Africa, where the only water you can find is in the Ocean, Stanley Brinks & Freschard put on their best carnival costumes to get to the bottom of every bottle of rum they could find. 
They found a lot.

Stanley Brinks is renowned for his unique anti-folk style: both playful and suggestive, insightful and entertaining. Brinks was born in Paris, France, in 1973. He studied a bit of biology and worked as a nurse for a while. Half Swedish, half Moroccan, strongly inclined to travel the world, he soon began spending most of his life on the road and developed a strong relationship with New York.

By the late 90s he’d become a full time singer-songwriter – André Herman Düne – as part of three piece indie-rock band, Herman Düne alongside his brother, David-Ivar. Several albums and Peel sessions later and after a decade of touring Europe, mostly with American songwriters such as Jeffrey Lewis, Calvin Johnson and early Arcade Fire he settled in Berlin. The early carnival music of Trinidad became a passion, and in the early 21st century he became the unquestioned master of European calypso, changing his name to Stanley Brinks.

Under this moniker he has recorded well in excess of 100 albums, collaborated with the New York Antifolk scene on numerous occasions, recorded and toured with traditional Norwegian musicians, and played a lot with The Wave Pictures.

Freschard grew up in a farm in French Burgundy. Aged 18 she moved to Paris, where she baked pies and cakes in a cafe. There, a local musician and regular customer called Stanley Brinks wrote a few songs for her to sing. Homeless in Paris, she saved up just enough money to get herself a ticket to New York. There she found an old electric guitar and started writing her own songs. In 2004 she moved to Berlin, where she recorded her first LP, "Alien Duck". Her second album, "Click Click", recorded in 2006, features electric guitar by Stanley Brinks. On her third album, she plays the drums herself. On her fourth “Shh...” she also plays the flute, and she breaks out the washboard on her fifth “Boom Biddy Boom”.