Weakened Friends “Common Blah”

The acts referenced by a band in their bio is obviously a great way to get a feel for if you’re likely to like them or not.  So, Weakened Friends’ mentioning of Beach Slang and Juliana Hatfield is enough to get us interested. The fact that it then describes their sound as ‘a wiry, whimsical and wild fusion of disarmingly pop hooks and fuzzed out riffery that wouldn’t be out of place on the Reality Bites soundtrack’ definitely had us sold.

Right from first track, “Peel”, it’s apparent that Weakened Friend are aiming to take us back to the glory days of grungy indie/pop. Although that just serves as an intro, the album really comes in to life with the exuberant feel of “Waste”. Together with tracks like “Common Blah” and “Younger” they seem to be the songs destined to get indie dancefloors jumping (do indie dancefloors still exist?)

You then get tracks like “Blue Again” and “Early”, indie anthems in the making that you just know people are going to fall in love with. Whilst songs like “Not Doing Good” and “Good Friends” have a mix of ferocity and melody that seem perfect for delivering at packed, sweaty gigs.  If you are unconvinced by our opinion, the fact that “Hate Mail” features J Mascis should be enough to make you understand where Weakened Friends are coming from musically but also the quality of these songs.

There is little doubt that over the past year or so there has been a bit of a peak in bands delivering great indie pop. It’s a bit of a throwback to the nineties when there appeared to be a constant flow of great artists delivering this kind of sound (e.g. Lemonheads, Pixies, Juliana Hatfield etc). You can now add Weakened Friends as a new band to check out. Depending on your age they may either bring a wonderful sense of nostalgia or be introducing you to a new world of great indie rock.