Friendly Fires - Friendly Fires

Rating

: * * * *

Verdict

:

Quick party thrills from Brit dance rock trio

Don't be put off by the cowbells, because on Friendly Fires' self-titled debut, the good time British trio manage to make the incessant clatter cool. So the clang is effective enough to get your ass shaking but low-key enough not to make you cringe. It's not all cowbells though and the cantering beats, steely guitar, and synth-driven glitch and groove is modern disco at its best.

Friendly Fires is memorable for its bubbly music-making approach, making it loads of fun with the best examples being party starters In the Hospital and White Diamonds, the kinds of songs that people ask, ‘Who is this?' when they're playing.

Then there's the high-falutin falsetto lunacy of On Board, with mangled guitars and cowbells in full effect yet again; Lovesick has a breathless, new romantic-meets-LCD Soundsystem mood; and last track Ex Lover has woozy "My Bloody Valentine" moments to it.

Their sometimes cute, sometimes brazen sound is somewhere between fellow Brits the Klaxons and Hot Chip and they have a rock ‘n' roll energy and ethic similar to New York's The Rapture. While the dance-rock novelty of Friendly Fires might wear off, it sounds good enough for now and at 10 snappy tracks they know quick thrills are what work best these days.

- Scott Kara