A DIY INDIEPOP VINYL & CASSETTE LABEL

Jessica's Brother - Caroline [Digital]

Artist: Jessica's Brother
Title: Caroline
Format: Digital single
Cat#: Fika088SG2
Release date: 24th September 2021
Bandcamp | Spotify

‘Caroline’ is the second track from the new album from London three-piece Jessica’s Brother, comprising songwriter Tom Charleston, The Wave Pictures’ Jonny Helm on drums and Charlie Higgs on bass.

Caroline is about that feeling of falling behind. Whether it’s a friend, partner, enemy(!) - we often fall into the trap of finding ourselves reacting despondently instead of feeling inspired

Stitching together a variety of influences, from crunching 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 afresh. 

The disintegration of a long-term relationship, coinciding with a global fracturing, provided a catalyst for ‘Just Rain’. The songs explore a relentless collision of melancholy and resilience alongside themes of comedy, agency, and hope.

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. Their debut, eponymous, album released in 2018 was warmly received.

‘Just Rain’ was produced and engineered by Shuta Shinoda (Hot Chip, Ghost Poet, Anna Meredith) at Hackney Road Studios during the summer of 2020. The album features Dan Mayfield’s elegant touch on violin (he has performed with artists from Daniel Johnston to Allo Darlin’), and new female voices from Polimana (a jazz vocalist from the SoCal suburbia) and Shantha Roberts (whose voice has graced Glasgow’s reggae sound system Argonaut Sounds).

The eponymous Jessica Jane Charleston, a painter and printmaker, provides the meteorological juxtaposition to the album in the visuals, the warmth of a giant sun looming over the contorted figure, rising up to fight another day. Tom was drawn to the hotter colours this time round as opposed to the moodier blue palette of the debut. The colours and figures convey a sense of revival after a period of hibernation. It fits well alongside the band’s hiatus throughout the pandemic and their much awaited return. 

With an at times folkloric narrative, ‘Just Rain’ is both poetic and playful retaining throughout a thread of darkness. 

The record takes a step forward in terms of production while maintaining the band’s rough around the edges charm. It is an intimate affair punctuated with louder and more unwieldy moments. A true story revolving around a relationship and a world falling apart.

Caroline4k.jpg

“The crashing guitars sound absolutely huge, like this stormy wave of distortion (and occasional soloing) bashing us over the head. That said, the trio, pull back in all the right spots, letting you take a breath before smashing you right in the face. And more fun, you can enjoy the noise, but it operates entirely separately from the generous pop moments that course throughout the tune…be that the backing bops or the core vocals from Tom” Austin Town Hall

“This feels like a step forward for Jessica’s Brother, a band moving on without losing the initial glint in the eye that made them such an exciting prospect in the first place.” For The Rabbits

Fortitude Valley - All Hail The Great Destroyer [Digital]

Artist: Fortitude Valley
Title: All Hail The Great Destroyer
Format: Digital single
Cat#: Fika087SG3
Release date: 27th August 2021
Spotify | Bandcamp

Durham-based indie punks Fortitude Valley are pleased to reveal the video for their new single ‘All Hail The Great Destroyer’.

The track is the final single to be taken from their self-titled debut album set for release on 29th October 2021—preorders are live on bandcamp now.

A tribute to vocalist Laura Kovic’s rescue cat Margie, who destroys everything for fun and is “an absolute legend”, it’s the perfect taste of an album that’s packed with pathos, humour, and hope.

Commenting on the track, Kovic says: “At times this past year and a half has felt like we’re all being sucked into a metaphorical black hole. This song is about trying to find little things that bring you joy and holding on to them. We’re all just doing our best to escape the void.”

Recording in two stints during 2019 and 2021 with a COVID sized hole in the middle, the band’s forthcoming self-titled debut album was laid down between Soup Studios in London, Rocking Horse Recording Studio in Durham, and the members’ respective homes. The album was recorded, engineered and produced by Giles Barrett and Neil Combstock, mixed by Michael Collins, and mastered by Dave Williams.

Addressing themes of the passage of time, friendships and relationships growing apart, and feelings of insecurity, depression, and anxiety—as well as searching for love and salvation—the album is very much a product of our times.

Previously-released album singles ‘Wreck’, ‘Cassini’ and ‘Baby, I’m Afraid’ have all received praise from a rapidly growing list of press including LOUD WOMEN, The Punk Site, Noizze, Austin Town Hall, Bring The Noise, For The Rabbits, Get In Her Ears, NARC. Magazine, Sweeping The Nation, Distorted Sound and more.

‘Baby, I’m Afraid’ also made the band’s first splash at radio, landing on the X-Posure Playlist at Radio X, XS Manchester playlist, Idobi Anthm playlist, Amazing Radio playlist, KINK Indie playlist, securing BBC Introducing and local radio support, as well as a swathe of regional and specialist shows jumping on board.

The band will appear at End of The Road Festival 2021 and Twisterella Festival 2021 later this year (see below for listings).

“They keep releasing these pop rock jams that just get stuck up inside your head” - Austin Town Hall
“The most slacker-pop band that’s ever burst forth from [checks notes] Durham” - LOUD WOMEN
“Blistering bubblegum punk...they’re something to get really excited about” - Get In Her Ears
“Amplified pop tunes...reminds us of Dinosaur Jr.‘s slacker electricity” - Turn Up The Volume
"A brilliantly awkward and slacked anthem...set to be the sleeper hit of the year" - Noizze
“Deliciously driving indie-pop” - For The Rabbits

Fortitude Valley is the new outlet for the songwriting talents of Durham-based Brisbanite Laura Kovic. Having spent the majority of her musical career playing keyboards in other people’s bands, bringing their songs to life with a melodic flourish, it was about time for Kovic to find an outlet for her songs: awkward power-pop that’s bound to appeal to fans of The Beths, Weezer or The Weakerthans.

She assembled quite the band, too, teaming up with Martha’s Daniel Ellis (lead guitar) and Nathan Stephens Griffin (drums), and Night Flowers’ Greg Ullyart on bass.

The quartet take their name from Brisbane suburb Fortitude Valley—or just “The Valley” if you’re from Brisbane—the heart of the city’s music scene, and also where Kovic first started playing in bands, before moving to the UK in 2010. “It was a place that objectively felt mythical, a suburb with a special meaning, looking back from the other side of the world and many years later,” she reflects.

@valleyfortitude
https://fikarecordings.com/artists/fortitude-valley

Jessica's Brother - Just Rain [Digital]

Artist: Jessica's Brother
Title: Just Rain
Format: Digital single
Cat#: Fika088SG1
Release date: 20th August 2021
Bandcamp | Spotify

‘Just Rain’ is the opening track from the second album from London three piece Jessica’s Brother, comprising songwriter Tom Charleston, The Wave Pictures’ Jonny Helm on drums and Charlie Higgs on bass.

Stitching together a variety of influences, from crunching 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 afresh. 

The disintegration of a long-term relationship, coinciding with a global fracturing, provided a catalyst for ‘Just Rain’. The songs explore a relentless collision of melancholy and resilience alongside themes of comedy, agency, and hope.

The title track lays this out with an opening burst of slacker rock as Tom reflects back over a passage of time that feels like persistent unrelenting rain. Vacillating between despair and defiance, we uncover the strength to shrug it off as “just rain”; after all, as the track draws to its conclusion “losing sight can be relieving”.
Interestingly, the lyric, “open up your heart, it can help to wear a mask”, was written before the pandemic had properly struck in the UK.

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. Their debut, eponymous, album released in 2018 was warmly received.

‘Just Rain’ was produced and engineered by Shuta Shinoda (Hot Chip, Ghost Poet, Anna Meredith) at Hackney Road Studios during the summer of 2020. The album features Dan Mayfield’s elegant touch on violin (he has performed with artists from Daniel Johnston to Allo Darlin’), and new female voices from Polimana (a jazz vocalist from the SoCal suburbia) and Shantha Roberts (whose voice has graced Glasgow’s reggae sound system Argonaut Sounds).

The eponymous Jessica Jane Charleston, a painter and printmaker, provides the meteorological juxtaposition to the album in the visuals, the warmth of a giant sun looming over the contorted figure, rising up to fight another day. Tom was drawn to the hotter colours this time round as opposed to the moodier blue palette of the debut. The colours and figures convey a sense of revival after a period of hibernation. It fits well alongside the band’s hiatus throughout the pandemic and their much awaited return. 

With an at times folkloric narrative, ‘Just Rain’ is both poetic and playful retaining throughout a thread of darkness. 

The record takes a step forward in terms of production while maintaining the band’s rough around the edges charm. It is an intimate affair punctuated with louder and more unwieldy moments. A true story revolving around a relationship and a world falling apart.

“The crashing guitars sound absolutely huge, like this stormy wave of distortion (and occasional soloing) bashing us over the head. That said, the trio, pull back in all the right spots, letting you take a breath before smashing you right in the face. And more fun, you can enjoy the noise, but it operates entirely separately from the generous pop moments that course throughout the tune…be that the backing bops or the core vocals from Tom” Austin Town Hall

“This feels like a step forward for Jessica’s Brother, a band moving on without losing the initial glint in the eye that made them such an exciting prospect in the first place.” For The Rabbits

We're back live! September 1st at The Shacklewell Arms

We’ve not put on a live event since the Winter Sprinter in January of 2020, our shows from February through to September that year all succumbing to Covid restrictions… but we’re back!

Do come and join us on the 1st of September at The Shacklewell Arms, for Darren Hayman and Common or Garden. An End of the Road festival warm up show, showcasing Darren's recent album Home Time and songs from throughout his career.

Tickets £10+bf adv via WeGotTickets or Dice.

20210901 Shacklewell Darren Hayman.jpg

Covid19 guidance:
Please check and follow the latest NHS and government guidance on Covid.
We encourage everyone to take a free NHS lateral flow test before coming to the gig, and if positive, seek a PCR test and isolate as per the current government guidelines.
If you are displaying Covid symptoms, please do not come to the venue.
If you're unable to attend having been required to self-isolate or as a result of a positive PCR test, please get in touch and we'll organise a refund of your ticket if you wish.
We'd encourage you to wear a mask moving around the venue if you wish to, and to be considerate to everyone else attending, we’re all at different stages of getting comfortable returning to live events again.
We hope to give you all an enjoyable and safe evening of music - if you’ve got any accessibility requests, or questions on Covid protocol, please do get in touch.

Fortitude Valley - Baby, I'm Afraid [Digital]

Artist: Fortitude Valley
Title: Baby, I’m Afraid
Format: Digital single
Cat#: Fika087SG2
Release date: 9th July 2021
Spotify | Bandcamp

Fortitude Valley channel Weezer’s Blue Album for their latest single Baby, I’m Afraid. 

“This is a break up song.  It’s two people feeling that the vibe is off, but not communicating.

It’s about feeling insecure, over analysing little things and assuming the worst rather than actually speaking to the other person.”

Fortitude Valley tear through three minutes of scorching rock with crunchy riffs and indelible hooks, harnessing their vibrant slacker-pop to dissect a stalling relationship.

Fortitude Valley is the new outlet for the songwriting talents of Durham based Brisbanite Laura Kovic.

Having spent the majority of her musical career playing keyboards in other people’s bands, bringing their songs to life with a melodic flourish, it was about time for Laura K to find an outlet for her songs: awkward power-pop that’s bound to appeal to fans of The Beths, Pixies or The Weakerthans. 

She’s assembled quite the band too: Martha’s Daniel Ellis on lead guitar and Nathan Stephens Griffin on drums, and Night Flowers’ Greg Ullyart on bass.

Fortitude Valley is the heart of Brisbane’s music scene and it's also where Laura first started playing in bands before moving to the UK in 2010.  It was a place that objectively felt mythical, a suburb with a special meaning, looking back from the other side of the world and many years later. 

Fortitude Valley release their debut full length album at the end of the summer 2021.

“Heartstring tugging lyrics, guitars that send you bouncing round the kitchen, and a supercute video complete with a puppy – seriously, what more do you want?” Loud Women

“the lyrics, about the last days of a relationship, are tinged with sadness, they’re lifted by the spiky guitar riffs and pure punk drums, which collide brilliantly with front-person Laura Kovic’s shoegaze-inspired, bubblegum vocals. The result is truly euphoric.” Get In Her Ears

“letting these grunge-y pop rock riffs rip and swirl all over the place as Kovic bounces her voice in and out of the song’s grooves” Austin Town Hall

“Fortitude Valley offer bubblegum scented power punk in a manner irrefutably slacked and relaxed” Noizze

“a powerful '90s power-pop in which Laura's soft voice and excellent melodies stand out” Indie For Bunnies

The Smittens - Wanna Go Dancin (So Far Away) [Digital]

Artist: The Smittens
Title: Wanna Go Dancin (So Far Away)
Format: Digital single
Cat#: Fika086
Release date: 2nd July 2021
Bandcamp | Spotify

Vermont’s The Smittens return to bubblegum pop with a 5 track EP, front by Wanna Go Dancin (So Far Away), recently commissioned by Burlington City Arts for their Bubblegum Pop exposition.

“We wanted to sound like The Archies meet Beat Happening (a band from Olympia Washington from the late 80s). The song is called "Wanna Go Dancin (So Far Away). It is about longing and having that thing you want just out of reach. It is wrapped in the bubble confection of a pop song.”

Formed in 2002 The Smittens identify themselves as an indie-twee-pop musical group known for their strong harmonies and powerful lyricism. Written and composed for Bubblegum Pop, The Smittens’ single ‘Wanna Go Dancin (So Far Away)’ embodies both the exhibition’s theme and the ‘bubblegum pop’ era of music of the late ‘60s and early ‘70s, with its catchy, upbeat, and novel melodic forms. A hallmark of this distinctive pop sub-genre is it’s mass-marketing toward children and young adults (originally named for the jingles often heard in candy commercials or cartoons on the radio or TV).  

On Wanna Go Dancing (So Far Away), the predominant theme centres on yearning and unrequited love, made more problematic during the social isolation caused by the pandemic:

Never gonna see that boy go by again

Never gonna see that boy go by again

Do you remember or was it a dream?

Am I pretending the way that it seemed?

Or am I only, only wishing that you feel the same way?

If I can only, only, only get the guts to say…

So far away – la la - six feet away.

The Smittens produced ‘Wanna Go Dancin (So Far Away) over the course of several months in 2021. The band worked with Eric Masunaga, a well-known composer, sound recordist and sound mixer, to mix and master the song.

A gallery edit of the single begins with a series of channel switches – complete with the recognisable static of a radio – that feature brief samples of past Smittens’ songs from the past 19 years that lightheartedly gesture to youth, and to the exhibit’s bubblegum pop theme.

The EP features a further two new songs. Year of Happiness was recorded during sessions for the band’s 2014 EP Love Record Breaker, and Saratoga was recorded live in 2002 during the band's fifth performance and Dana’s outing with the band. American laptop-folk musician Greg Davis provides a remix of The Garden, a track originally appearing on 2010’s Dancing Shoes - The Smittens Remixed.

The Smittens are a hard-working, globe-trotting independent American twee pop band from Vermont., based in Burlington and New York City. The band is friends first and open-hearted indiepop revolutionaries after that. Max Andrucki, Missy Bly, Colin Clary, Dana Kaplan, Holly Chagnon, and David Zacharis switch up instruments, song-writing, and singing to create catchy, harmony-driven pop anthems and queer love songs—always brilliantly lyrical, and often brazenly political. 

Wanna Go Dancin (So Far Away) was commissioned by Burlington City Arts as part of the Bubblegum Pop exhibition.

Bubblegum Pop at Burlington City Arts runs Jun 4 - Oct 9, 2021, featuring work by Pip & Pop, Matt Neckers, Jon Rappleye, Kathryn Wiegers and The Smittens.

wanna go dancin.jpg

Fortitude Valley - Cassini [Digital]

Artist: Fortitude Valley
Title: Cassini
Format: Digital single
Cat#: Fika087SG1
Release date: 4th June 2021

 Fortitude Valley follow up 2019’s debut single with the new single: “Cassini”

Cassini is a scorching 2 and a half minutes of slacker-rock and power-pop, recalling the eponymous satellite’s lonely final days and fiery self-sacrifice. Laura Kovic elaborates:

“In September 2017, National Geographic published the article ‘How NASA's Cassini Spacecraft Met Its Fiery End’ [1]. 
I thought it was so heart-breaking that this spacecraft that NASA had been following for almost 20 years had to be destroyed.
In the song, I’ve anthropomorphised the spacecraft and personalised the story a bit, so it’s just between me and Cassini. Cassini is venturing out on a long, lonely journey that will inevitably end in its destruction just so I can see what it’s ‘like out there’. And even though I know how it’s going to end, it doesn’t make it any easier to say goodbye.”

Fortitude Valley is the new outlet for the songwriting talents of Durham based Brisbanite Laura Kovic.

Having spent the majority of her musical career playing keyboards in other people’s bands, bringing their songs to life with a melodic flourish, it was about time for Laura K to find an outlet for her songs: awkward power-pop that’s bound to appeal to fans of The Beths, Weezer or The Weakerthans.

She’s assembled quite the band too: Martha’s Daniel Ellis on lead guitar and Nathan Stephens Griffin on drums, and Night Flowers’ Greg Ullyart on bass.

Fortitude Valley is the heart of Brisbane’s music scene and it's also where Laura first started playing in bands before moving to the UK in 2010.  It was a place that objectively felt mythical, a suburb with a special meaning, looking back from the other side of the world and many years later. 

Fortitude Valley release their debut full length album at the end of the summer 2021.

“the sound is one of deliciously driving indie-pop” For The Rabbits
“an amplified pop tune with a highly catchy melody, sweet vocals, and glowing guitars, reminding me of Dinosaur Jr.‘s slacker electricity” Turn up the Volume

NASA’s Cassini–Huygens was launched October 15, 1997. It took 7 years to get to Saturn, which it began orbiting in 2004, and where it remained until its end in 2017 [2]. Staying in orbit meant that it risked one day colliding one of Saturn’s moons, namely Titan and Enceladus (which researchers believe have the potential to harbour life), and contaminating them with Earth microbes.  Cassini Project Scientist, Linder Spilker, described the end of Cassini’s mission as “like losing a friend”. 

[1] https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2017/09/cassini-saturn-nasa-grand-finale-space-science/
[2] https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/news/12892/cassini-10-years-at-saturn-top-10-discoveries/

@valleyfortitude
https://fikarecordings.com/artists/fortitude-valley

“infectious indie pop gems that would sidle up nicely alongside Joanna Gruesome, Lisa Prank, or Colleen Green” Raven Sings The Blues

“the band set the sad tale of lost space hardware to a surprisingly fiery slice of power-pop, with the Pavement-like lurch of the rhythm section, contrasted by the rambunctious assault of the twin-guitars, and Laura’s vocal tumble of lyrical gems” For The Rabbits

“Fortitude Valley are something very special indeed” Get In Her Ears

Interview at NARC

Randolph's Leap - Spirit Level [12"/CD]

Artist: Randolph’s Leap
Title: Nothing At All
Format: 12” sky blue with white splatter vinyl | digipack CD
Cat#: Fika085LP | Fika085CD
Release date: 26th February 2021
Bandcamp | Spotify

 Spirit Level is the new album from Scottish folk-pop collective Randolph’s Leap. 

Spirit Level is an upbeat, melodic indie-pop album full of personality, catchy hooks and memorable lyrics, rich in textural, polyphonic arrangements, and capturing the infinite charm of Adam Ross, the leader of this 8-piece band.

As a core songwriter with a large ensemble, Adam Ross may draw comparison with Stephin Merritt or Neil Hannon, while mining the rich Scottish seam of Postcard Records and C86. And as with contemporaries King Creosote or Withered Hand, is unafraid of drawing on folk music’s story telling tradition, detailing the minutiae of life’s fluctuations, here packaged up in glorious, anthemic and energetic pop.

The titular ‘spirit level’ is a steady reference point over what had been an unsettled spell writing the album, with Adam Ross uprooting from a decade in Glasgow to a tauntingly lopsided house in rural Aberdeenshire, navigating his way through shifting phases in his well-being and happiness, and reflecting on the untimely death of two greatly admired acquaintances. That balancing act came in the form of music, in an optimistic, even celebratory, collection of songs.

The move to Aberdeenshire roots the album, with Let This Lie reflecting on mortality during a train journey along Scotland’s east coast, to the nostalgia of parts of a life left behind in Glasgow on Punchbag. “I also had a weirdly contradictory feeling of wanting to get even further away – like maybe we weren’t remote enough and we should move to an island or something. It was just a classic “grass is always greener” situation. A bit of existential boredom, maybe. Fantasising about a new life to distract myself from my current one.”

Recorded over a period of a year in Glasgow with keyboard player Pete MacDonald engineering, mixing and producing the sessions at home, the album went off to mastering in the nick of time: the following night Pete’s flat went Up In Smoke in a massive fire, taking everything bar Pete (and his pet hedgehog, Frida) with it.

Album opener, Moment Passed, sets the tone for the whole record, with Adam’s protagonist struggling to present a balanced outward appearance while disorder bubbles beneath the surface. Spirit Level, despite its carefully poised 10 tracks and balanced artwork, prefers to revel in life’s quirks and imperfections.

“The next generation of witty Scottish indie pop” The Quietus

“A band deserving of every shred of love and success which came Belle & Sebastian's way” The Scotsman

"The Jonathan Richman of Scottish indie" The Herald

* * *

Randolph’s Leap started out as a pseudonym for the solo output of Adam Ross, and now includes up to 8 people in the full live band. The debut Randolph’s Leap album, Clumsy Knot, came out in 2014, with another four live and studio albums and a handful of singles across labels Fence Collective, Olive Grove Records and Lost Map. In 2018 a touring theatre show called The Isle of Love was devised around the songs of Randolph’s Leap.

They’ve recorded several Marc Riley sessions, performed at Green Man, T in the Park, Indietracks, and The Edinburgh Fringe, and have toured with The Burning Hell and James Yorkston.  

2020 saw Adam cement his reputation as one of Scotland’s most prolific songwriters, releasing around 40 home-recorded songs via Bandcamp and Patreon as a creative response to Covid-19 restrictions. He also released an album of country-pop music under the pseudonym A.R. Pinewood.

The Randolph’s Leap name is taken from a scenic location on the River Findhorn.

Spirit Level is their fourth studio album, and their first with London based Fika Recordings.

Randolph’s Leap are:
Adam Ross: songs, vocals, guitar
Adam Armour-Florence: drums
Ali Hendry: trumpet
Andrew MacLellan: guitar
Fraser Gibson: trombone
Heather Fox: violin
Pete MacDonald: keyboards
Vicki Cole: bass

“An all-singing, all-dancing full band album of joyful self-comforting, with blithe brass lifting up Ross’s soulful, hangdog vocals as he reckons with the search for a stable foundation, ponders mortality on an east coast train journey (rhyming “Deuchars” with “Leuchars” along the way) and brings pub piano and mariachi horns together in characterful celebration on Helluva Summer.” The Scotsman [4/5]

“this is an album – perhaps motivated by failure and death – that grasps life and screams with all the joy it can muster” Juno Daily

“The exhilarating pop album they’ve always been capable of. A strong contender for pop album of the year.” Is This Music

“This latest effort from Randolph’s Leap is likely to help your spirits level up as across its ten tracks it rarely lets up in energy, and is peppered throughout with Ross’s signature lyrical wit with lines like: ‘I like Big Momma’s House 2, but I prefer the novel.’” The Skinny

“We can all be consumed by the malaise of life, so for just a short time, let Randolph’s Leap take those troubles away and bask in the sunshiny folk on offer on Spirit Level.” Louder Than War

“'Spirit Level' is perfect listening for spring and summer’s lengthening days. It places Randolph’s Leap among the best in the pantheon of Scottish indie pop.” PennyBlack Music

“a fantastic, gilded piece of indie pop with slight Americana leanings.” Clash Music

“This is a very creative musical album and there is a lot gone into each song. Not content with just everyday song writing of guitar bass drums and piano. The music is just off the wall as the lyrical content. Horns blare as violins and guitars pop up bringing joy with them.” Backseat Mafia

“Spirit Level might just be one of 2021’s first great albums” For The Rabbits

“it takes on that chamber pop feel, bursting forth with horns and various instrumental textures. I won’t deny how much I love the rise and fall of the chorus here, like a roller coaster with a huge lollipop waiting for you at the end” Austin Town Hall

“delivers the exhilarating pop album they’ve always been capable of. A strong contender for pop album of the year” Manic Pop Thrills

“Spirit Level is a joy to listen to” Add To Wantlist

“a jaunty melody, catchy chorus and witty lyrics all culminating in a glorious brass filled romp” Net Sounds

Fika Recordings is 10!

fikaA4.jpg

Fika Recordings is ten years old today! A decade ago we were covered in glue and papercuts, putting the finishing touches our first releases, 4 tapes in editions of 100, all painstakingly cut, folded and glued by hand, in preparation to launch the label with a gig at The Wilmington Arms (RIP) with Horowitz, Moustache of Insanity, Lost Summer Kitten and Lisa Bouvier.

We’ve managed to get out 80+ releases and put on 50+ shows since then. It’s been a wild ride, and a steep learning curve.

Thanks to Sean and Jerv for the guidance, the pints and the peanuts. To Lucy & Chris who’ve worked miracles to get people to write about our releases. To everyone that’s taken the time to write about a release in their zine or on their blog. To the 6 Music gang who’ve frequently delighted us by airing our stuff on national radio.

So much love to all the artists we’ve had the pleasure of working with, who’ve trusted us with their music. And finally to all of you who’ve come along to a gig, bought a record, and hung around afterwards to say hello at the bar.

There were grand plans to make something special happen to mark ten years - but venues and studios being shut has scuppered that. Guess that means we’ll have to make it to the next significant birthday to do that instead…

Finally, have 10% off anything in our Bandcamp shop for the next ten days with the code 10years.

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Randolph's Leap - BMH [Digital]

Artist: Randolph’s Leap
Title: BMH
Format: digital
Cat#: Fika085SG3
Release date: 5th February 2021
Bandcamp | Spotify

BMH is the third single from Scottish folk-pop collective Randolph’s Leap’s forthcoming album Spirit Level.

“On one hand, it’s about the pretentious things people say to appear interesting. I found humour in the idea that the Big Momma’s House film franchise could be based on a critically-acclaimed and cherished novel (spoiler: it isn’t) and there are some digs at hipster culture. It’s also about a house not feeling like a home. Looking back, I reckon I was probably exaggerating the flaws in the house but I got a bit fixated on it, almost like it was haunting me or conspiring against me somehow.”

Spirit Level is an upbeat, melodic indie-pop album full of personality, catchy hooks and memorable lyrics, rich in textural, polyphonic arrangements, and capturing the infinite charm of Adam Ross, the leader of this 8-piece band.

As a core songwriter with a large ensemble, Adam Ross may draw comparison with Stephin Merritt or Neil Hannon, while mining the rich Scottish seam of Postcard Records and C86. And as with contemporaries King Creosote or Withered Hand, is unafraid of drawing on folk music’s story telling tradition, detailing the minutiae of life’s fluctuations, here packaged up in glorious, anthemic and energetic pop.

The titular ‘spirit level’ is a steady reference point over what had been an unsettled spell writing the album, with Adam Ross uprooting from a decade in Glasgow to a tauntingly lopsided house in rural Aberdeenshire, navigating his way through shifting phases in his well-being and happiness, and reflecting on the untimely death of two greatly admired acquaintances. That balancing act came in the form of music, in an optimistic, even celebratory, collection of songs.

Recorded over a period of a year in Glasgow with keyboard player Pete MacDonald engineering, mixing and producing the sessions at home, the album went off to mastering in the nick of time: the following night Pete’s flat went Up In Smoke in a massive fire, taking everything bar Pete (and his pet hedgehog, Frida) with it.

“The next generation of witty Scottish indie pop” The Quietus

“A band deserving of every shred of love and success which came Belle & Sebastian's way” The Scotsman

"The Jonathan Richman of Scottish indie" The Herald

Randolph’s Leap started out as a pseudonym for the solo output of Adam Ross, and now includes up to 8 people in the full live band. The debut Randolph’s Leap album, Clumsy Knot, came out in 2014, with another four live and studio albums and a handful of singles across labels Fence Collective, Olive Grove Records and Lost Map. In 2018 a touring theatre show called The Isle of Love was devised around the songs of Randolph’s Leap.

They’ve recorded several Marc Riley sessions, performed at Green Man, T in the Park, Indietracks, and The Edinburgh Fringe, and have toured with The Burning Hell and James Yorkston. 

The Randolph’s Leap name is taken from a scenic location on the River Findhorn.

Randolph’s Leap are Adam Ross (songs, vocals, guitar), Adam Armour-Florence (drums), Ali Hendry (trumpet), Andrew MacLellan (guitar), Fraser Gibson (trombone) Heather Fox (violin), Pete MacDonald (keyboards) and Vicki Cole (bass).

“It reminds of the old Austin band Hollywood Gossip; just imagine Belle and Sebastian rushing through a tune just to cram it in under 3 minutes. I love that they don’t stray away from arrangements here with the horns, even though it definitely has the feel of more of a rock tune.” Austin Town Hall