When Folly Group arrived with their debut single ‘Butt No Rifle’, it felt like they had been hiding from us all this time and suddenly decided now was the best time to shock us, fully formed. But as new single ‘Fewer Closer Friends’ reveals, their first was simply a sly teaser of the scintillating force that was to come.
Where the searing intensity of ‘Fewer Closer Friends’ is just as fleshed out and purposeful as their aforementioned debut, here darkness reigns with more emphasis – there aren’t many that can craft something so compelling when such industrial clanging harbours the atmosphere. Where ‘Butt No Rifle’ tinkers over their joyfully considered foundations, here Folly Group are fleshed out and embossed – quirky squelches of synth act as the rhythmic countenance for immense guitars to resoundingly tear at the space with sudden vivacity.
While it’s taut and incisive in an ominously unpredictable way, it’s striking in how direct it’s narrative lies in juxtaposition. Sean Harper paints with acute observation, battling the painful lack of control a human has over someone else’s perception of them. It’s done so with a potent balance of sardonic contempt and deep-rooted vulnerability, the way the track rattles suddenly to a close – hinting either at mental collapse or a relieving sense of acknowledgement – leaving a unavoidable desire for more answers.
‘Fewer Closer Friends’ reveals a little bit more about this increasingly intriguing collective.
Header Photo by Holly Whitaker
Issue Twenty-Six out 30/06/20. Pre Order here.