The Smittens - Three States [Digital]

Artist: The Smittens
Title: Three States
Format: Digital single
Cat#: Fika067SG3
Release date: 13th July 2018
Bandcamp | Spotify | iTunes

Three States, the new single from The Smittens is out today!

“Three States is a coming out/transition anthem, I wrote this song amidst a need to capture the complexity of identity, politics, and everything so many of us get caught in between. There’s pressure on all of us to conform to certain standards, and it’s nearly impossible not to internalise the toxicity. The idea of three states came to me while driving back to Vermont after being at NYC Pride. It’s a window into vulnerability, fear, determination, growth, and ultimately, better living through modern day medicine. There’s beauty in complexity. What’s holding you back? What worlds are you caught between? May we all find the spaces in which we belong. Fuck the binary, baby.” The Smittens’ Dana

Pre-order the 12″ LP City Rock Dove now or listen to the new single on Spotify.

Mikey Collins - Falling [Digital]

Artist: Mikey Collins
Title: Falling
Format: Digital single
Cat#: Fika068SG2
Release date: 29th June 2018
Bandcamp | Spotify | iTunes

"Falling" is the second single to be taken from the forthcoming debut album by Allo Darlin' drummer Mikey Collins.  Hoick is due out via Fika Recordings on 17 August. The song is a bright, upbeat pop number with call and response vocals provided by Laura Kovic from Tigercats. It is about Mikey proposing to his wife, something he swore blind he'd never do.

The video was shot on a summer's day in London, bringing the track to life, adding colour and movement, featuring the dancer Dessy Adesuwa, who choregraphed the piece herself.  As Mikey explains; "London always shows it's best side on a sunny day and we shot the footage in ten hours around Little Venice, Fitzroy Square and St James Park... much to the joy of many onlookers."

Mikey explains further about the song; "This is about the process of proposing to my wife. About how I changed my opinions on marriage and how I changed my mind from it being something that I never wanted to do to being something very important to me!"

Freschard & Stanley Brinks - Midnight Tequila [12"]

Artist: Freschard & Stanley Brinks
Title: Midnight Tequila
Format: 12" album on pale blue vinyl
Cat#: Fika066
Release date: 29th June 2018
Bandcamp | Spotify

Following on from 2014’s Pizza Espresso, Freschard and Stanley Brinks come together for 12 brand new tracks.

Midnight Tequila 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 Stan’s wistful timbre and characteristic warm instrumentation. Perfect accompaniment for that late night tequila.

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 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”. On Midnight Tequila, Freschard brings it back to just drums and vocals.

The Smittens - Love is a Word [Digital]

Artist: The Smittens
Title: Love is a Word
Format: Digital single
Cat#: Fika067SG2
Release date: 29th June 2018
Bandcamp | Spotify | iTunes

Love is a Word is the second track taken from the forthcoming City Rock Dove from The Smittens.

The Smittens’ Missy Bly says: “This song came after I heard the buzz and learned personally, that love is and requires action. This one could potentially be written forever because the list of love metaphors is never ending. Love is potential, love is forethought, love can be cruel, exalting and regular and love is definitely fun to sing about!”

The Smittens - Cats for Cats [Digital]

Artist: The Smittens
Title: Cats for Cats
Format: Digital single
Cat#: Fika067SG1
Release date: 8th June 2018
Bandcamp | Spotify | iTunes

The Smittens return with Cats for Cats, their first new track since 2016’s Love Record Breaker, ahead of the summer’s UK tour and Indietracks appearance. Their 6th full length album will be released in August.

The Smittens’ Max Andrucki descibed Cats for Cats:

”Masc for Masc" is obviously a gay dating app cliche, and for a long time I felt like it was just too obvious a reference so I resisted it, until simply couldn't any more! I was thinking of substitutes for that lyric that I could use instead and a friend, whom i actually met on Scruff, suggested "Cats for Cats". In the end I kept the original lyric but added that one as well. Maybe I just like cats, and especially the idea of cats as little, queer icons. The song is maybe about being 40, and in a long term relationship and horny, and again how the freedom of experimentation always comes with its own costs. Like dipping your toes in water, like sailing the open sea.”

The Smittens are a 6-piece indiepop band that make upbeat and introspective tunes, tinged with vulnerability and optimism. While sonically the elements of multi-layered harmonies, countermelodies and ba-ba-ba singalong hooks still play a large part in The Smittens’ approach to songwriting, as each of the 4 main songwriters has grown, the overall perspective of the songs seems a bit moodier, and more serious. They’ve long since left behind the label of being a ‘cute’ or ‘twee’ band since their debut album 15 years ago.

City Rock Dove is instead an album of transition, ennui and nihilism; honing in on personal politics and gender queerness. The album contends with the turbulent changes of modern America serving only to cement the status quo - and it’s not just the outside world that’s changing either: The Smittens are also singing about the changes in themselves and taking a hard look inside. Gary Olson (Ladybug Transistor) returned to mix the new album, having been instrumental in helping develop the richer textures first seen on 2016’s Love Record Breaker EP.

Pre-order City Rock Dove on 12" heavyweight vinyl or digitally

Catch them on their short UK tour on the dated below:
July 24 - Cambridge, The Blue Moon
July 25 - London, The Shacklewell Arms
July 26 - Sheffield, Cafe Totem
July 28 - Derbyshire, Indietracks Festival

Mikey Collins - Sound in Here [Digital]

Artist: Mikey Collins
Title: Sound in Here
Format: Digital single
Cat#: Fika068SG1
Release date: 25th May 2018
Bandcamp | Spotify | iTunes

"Summer-fresh indie pop with a personal streak, it's a contagious little jewel of a song." Clash

"Sound In Here" is the first single to be released from the debut album Hoick by Mikey Collins, the drummer for Allo Darlin', which was premiered by Clash. Reflecting the joy and humour of his previous band, the track is a surprisingly upbeat song about tinnitus. As Mikey explains:

"This was a song that I wrote whilst thinking about the tinnitus that affected (Allo Darlin' guitarist) Paul Rains and I after years of touring.  Paul, particularly, had a very hard time adjusting to having damaged hearing and a constant tone in his ears.  It got me thinking about whether it was all worth it etc - of course it all was, but there were costs to all that travelling and not sleeping and loud gigs and shit.  This song thinks about that.  I wanted it to sound like the Cure."

“Gentle, chiming indie pop packed with depth and nuance, Mikey applied a real perfectionist streak to the recording. Summer-fresh indie pop with a personal streak, it's a contagious little jewel of a song.” Clash

“this is definitely a pop song from start to finish; there are some added flourishes you might not have found on an AD track though. Personally, I really like the vocal delivery of Collins here; it lives somewhere in the realm between Norman Blake and Matthew Caws…both voices I adore.” Austin Town Hall

“bright and breezy with no end of hooks” Beehive Candy

Stanley Brinks - Peanuts [12"/CD]

Artist: Stanley Brinks
Title: Peanuts
Format: 12" album on ruby red vinyl | CD in digifile sleeve
Cat#: Fika064LP | Fika064CD
Release date: 11th May 2018
Bandcamp | Spotify | iTunes

After releasing a pair of playful records alongside of The Wave Pictures, and two albums of folk shanties and old-time calypso with Norway’s folk troupe The Kaniks, Stanley Brinks’ next release for Fika Recordings is back to being a solo affair, albeit with collaborator and long time muse Clemence Freschard alongside Claire Falzon and Helene Nuland.

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.  

Jessica's Brother - Humdinger [Digital]

Artist: Jessica's Brother
Title: Humdinger
Format: Digital single
Cat#: Fika065SG3
Release date: 4th May 2018
Bandcamp | Spotify | iTunes

Jessica’s Brother is the eponymous debut album from London trio Jessica’s Brother, comprised of songwriter Tom Charleston, Jonny Helm (drums, also of The Wave Pictures) and Charlie Higgs (bass, previously of Ramshackle Union Band). Channelling the spirit of the Brothers Grimm to create an otherworldly atmosphere, they weave their motley influences together making a rich and eclectic vision, with nods to Silver Jews, Jason Molina, Nick Cave, Richard Thompson and Neil Young. There are themes of joy, anger and silliness in a carefully crafted world with a colourful cast of characters.

The new single is "Humdinger" is a languid indie folk track, recalling their heroes, Silver Jews. As Charleston explains, it is: "perhaps the one song on the album where the narrator is at ease with himself and the world. Though there are moments where this tranquillity is nudged by outside tremors, so we know this moment is ephemeral."

Jessica's Brother formed in October 2016. Jonny and Charlie worked together in a framing business and had often talked about collaborating in a band together. Fate intervened when Jonny’s girlfriend Jessica introduced him to her brother Tom, and they found a songwriter in waiting. The trio clicked immediately and just nine months later they recorded the album with Laurie Sherman at The Booze Cube in Stoke Newington, with input from Darren Hayman. A few other friends joined them in the studio, including Dan Mayfield (Enderby’s Room), who added a dose of Bad Seeds/Dirty Three vibes on the violin and Paul Rains (Allo Darlin’/Tigercats) lent a hint of country twang on guitar and slide guitar.

Weaving a variety of influences from jangly indie-rock to gothic country and contemplative psych folk, Jessica’s Brother create the sound of a band coming together and getting caught up in the rush of starting something new and enjoyable. The instruments clamber over each other in a small room, with Helm’s distinctive drumming counterbalancing the gothic guitar thrums and wailing violin. Already lauded by the likes of The Guardian (for their first ever gig) and the Saatchi Magazine (for their first single), the scene is set for a bright future.

Jessica's Brother: All The Better [Digital]

Artist: Jessica's Brother
Title: All The Better
Format: Digital single
Cat#: Fika065SG2
Release date: 16th March 2018
Spotify | Bandcamp | iTunes

Jessica’s Brother release their second track, All The Better, following on from their well received debut Overnight Horror at the start of the year.

Channelling the spirit of the Brothers Grimm to an otherworldly atmosphere, rich in jagged, uneven, perfect harmonies, All The Better is a hushed, eerie folk song. It explores the melancholy and optimism of breaching adolescence and the limbo before adulthood; a simple tale of growing up.

There are themes of joy, anger, silliness. The characters change, the instruments clamber over each other in a small room. Their shared influences include Silver Jews, Jason Molina, Richard Thompson and Neil Young.

All The Better is their second single, following on from Overnight Horror from the tail end of 2017. A full length album is due in the summer.

The single artwork comes from Tom’s sister, the eponymous Jessica [Jessica Jane Charleston].

Jessica’s Brother first started playing together in October 2016 when Jonny Helm (drums, also of The Wave Pictures) asked Charlie Higgs (bass, previously of Ramshackle Union Band) to come and play some songs written by Tom Charleston (Jessica’s Brother). The trio clicked immediately, and just 9 months later recorded the album with Laurie Sherman at The Cube and with Darren Hayman. A few friends joined them in the studio, including Dan Mayfield on violin (Enderby’s Room) and Paul Rains on guitar and slide guitar (Allo Darlin’ / Tigercats).

Math and Physics Club - Lived Here Before [12"]

Artist: Math and Physics Club
Title: Lived Here Before
Format: 12" album on heavyweight pale blue vinyl
Cat#: Fika063
Release date: 26th January 2018
Bandcamp | Spotify | iTunes

Math and Physics Club’s fourth studio album, Lived Here Before, sees the band stretching confidently into new territory while featuring all the carefully constructed pop handicraft we’ve come to expect from these Pacific Northwest lads. 

Working from a makeshift studio in the wilds of Snohomish, Washington, with fabled grunge producer Chris Hanzsek (Soundgarden, Green River), the band recorded eleven songs over four days in the company of Douglas firs and Swainson’s Thrushes.

Longtime fans will still recognise the band’s upbeat sound set against often bittersweet storytelling, but there’s also a darker, more world-weary undercurrent that feels earned with the passage of time, or perhaps as a reflection of the “times” themselves. 

The lead track ‘Threadbare’ sets the tone with its Shins-esque beat and close-up intimacy, followed by a powerful push-me-pull-you between the verses and choruses, sweet and sad.

‘The Pull of the Tides’ evokes bands like The Ocean Blue and The Softies and sets up one of the album’s more subtle tracks, ‘Like Cinnamon,’ which flips the dynamic between music and lyrics with its brooding backdrop. 

Side two’s opener, ‘Dear Madeline,’ is vintage Math and Physics Club with intertwining guitars and soft brushes beautifully set against one of the band’s more poignant vignettes. 

The mood shifts to agitation with ‘Take a Number’ which paints a more insidious type of darkness, fueled by its dueling guitar riffs and percussive flourishes. The album’s title is also pulled from one of its lyrics.

The album closes in characteristic economy with ‘Drive to You’ which features an arrangement stripped down to simply two guitars and a lilting melody, accented with subtle organ. It’s a fitting end note that reaches back to the band’s earlier days and leaves us feeling a bit more sweet than bitter, which seems just about right.

Math and Physics Club currently hails from Seattle and Olympia and other parts of the Pacific Northwest. They appeared to burst onto the scene in 2005 with their debut EP Weekends Away that garnered international attention, but in reality the band had been taking shape in the hearts and basements of childhood friends Charles Bert (vocals) and James Werle (guitar) since the mid-1990s. Never in a hurry, it took nearly a decade before they found Ethan Jones (bass), Kevin Emerson (drums), and Saundrah Humphrey (violin) to complete the lineup, but it was worth the wait.

By 2007, parenthood left less time to devote to the band for several members. They still managed to release a third EP ‘Baby I’m Yours’ in the fall of 2007, but only played a few shows in 2008 and none in 2009. Saundrah left the band during this time and moved to Denmark, and later Kevin also officially left to focus on his writing career (though he has continued to record with the band).

In 2016 they released a retrospective (“In This Together”), a collection of the previous 10 years of EPs, b-sides rarities, all available on vinyl for the first time, and their first release with Fika Recordings.

"Folks smitten with the jangle at the core of C86 and the output of Sarah Records will likely be chuffed, and the songs here are so well-conceived that comparisons to the Go-Betweens or Robert Scott’s work in The Bats are right on the money. But hey, if these comparisons leave you stumped, it’s a safe bet that if you dig The Shins and/or Luna, you’ll like this, too." The Vinyl District [A-]

"MAPC's strongest set of songs to date. Put it all together and it's the best record the band has done and some really fine indie pop" All Music [4/5]

"the core of this band's genius are songs that meld endearing melodies with lyrics that hit home, and the eleven songs of Lived Here Before are the strongest overall statement the band has made to date. They have always had the knack for concise and interesting expressions, whether sweet or bittersweet, and are not shy about interjecting self-deprecatory humor. However, the added years have provided a well-earned depth of experiences to layer into the sweet-sounding confections. The result is an album that is richly rewarding for any indie pop fan." When You Motor Away

"Marblemouth sounds like a slowed-down Bluetones and there’s some lovely little Smiths-esque riffs on the poppy Threadbare. The initial utters of love hit a peak on Broadcasting Waves with lyrics like, “I built a radio tower to signal your heart”" NARC [3/5]

"light and airy with lyrical themes that are wistful and nostalgic with plenty of bittersweet lyrics about regret and disappointment. The Go-Betweens may be the most obvious comparison but there's something very-Real Estate about the guitar on tracks like "The Pull of the Tides"" Collective Zine

"The first thing I notice about the new songs is that they carry a softer tone, almost akin to early Death Cab stuff" Austin Town Hall