One of the most exciting hybrid-sound bands to come out of the UK, Fickle Friends combine pop and indie rock, with huge flashes of guitar and synths complementing Natti Shiner’s irresistible vocals. And on their huge new single, Love You To Death, the band channels the guitar god himself, Prince. Headliner jumps on a Zoom with lead singer Shiner to talk about their upcoming album, how writing this new music helped when therapy didn’t, their mission to be a carbon-neutral band, and how she balances her life as a singer and yoga teacher.
At the time of speaking, Fickle Friends have just passed 120 million streams. Shiner is happy to hear this, as it’s news to her. “That’s great!” she says.
“That’s pretty exciting. I try not to chase these milestones because I get a little bit too obsessive. It starts to haunt me a little bit — I let things like that wash over me now. So if some good news comes my way, I'm like, ‘yay!’ But I'm not constantly pining for it.”
Describing themselves as “euphoria-pursuing indie-pop”, Fickle Friends have been going since their 2013 formation in Brighton, where they are all based with the exception of Shiner, who lives in South London.
Their debut album, You Are Someone Else, broke into the top 10 of the UK album charts, which has seen them tour the world and make big appearances at festivals such as Reading and Leeds.
The band’s new single, Love You To Death, sees the guitars come right to the forefront, and it’s brimming with the sound and attitude of the legendary Prince, almost as if his spirit took hold of Fickle Friends. It’s a strutting track, with delicious riffs, electronica just on the right side of dark, and wonderfully airy vocals from Shiner.
“The music always was more guitar-driven when we played live, just because it seemed to work that way,” Shiner says of this new direction. “I think we've come through that phase of shiny pop music. It’s a bit more angsty now. And the songs we’ve been writing have a bit more grit about them.
"And because we've been writing a lot more guitar parts, Jack [Wilson, who also plays synth] has got a lot better on guitar. And now he plays live and it allows us to create this more engaging, fun live show. We recently played a festival and it was the first time we didn't have to prompt a mosh pit ourselves, it just happened!”
Speaking on the day of the song’s release, the first from their upcoming album Are We Gonna Be Alright?, Shiner confirms that “Jack and I were listening to a lot of Prince! I’d wanted this song to be more sparse, not overpowered with loads of different elements. So we started with the guitar loop. And I took on this new character when I was singing it, like I was channelling Prince.
"It has some of my favourite riffs and solos we've ever had in a song. But I definitely think it's a bit of a Marmite tune. I haven't even looked on the internet yet to see if people have started playing it!"
