by Shea Roney (@uglyhug_records)
Friko is the latest band from Chicago’s expansive indie scene to turn heads with the release of their debut full length, Where we’ve been, Where we go from here. In an impressive and complex blossom of chamber-pop, post-punk, and poetic spite, singer/guitarist Niko Kapetan and drummer Bailey Minzenberger have loomed together a blistering and worn out quilt of melodies, moving compositions, and notable spine-shivering anthems. With production help from Scott Tallarida at his Trigger Chicago studio, the creation of the album (a process that included former bassist Luke Stamos) takes a walk down a fractured timeline, allowing Friko's combustible demeanor and unfeigned affection to grasp onto any hopes of finding comfort in a collapsing world.
Friends since high school, Kapetan and Minzenberger have spent years growing together in musical interest and integrity. With a love of the Romantic-era of classical music, the band has made a sound out of the sincere catharsis of crippling saunters and ecstatic high points that were most in spirit from the ethos of that movement. “Where We’ve Been” initiates a soft and distant intro to the record that builds upon itself. Becoming more distressed as the noise shifts around Kapetan’s gnarled vocals and the dynamic group harmonies, the track expands and collapses like a chest that is struggling to breathe. As the band slumps towards the inevitable ending, in an orchestrated and delirious crumble, singing “where we go from here” it only marks the beginning of this journey.
This reverie of lush strings and brash instrumentation is something that Friko has perfected and personified throughout the album, adding a specific responsibility to each sonic choice they make. Songs like “Statues” embrace booming percussion while others like “Until I’m With You Again” flourish in its subtle, yet emotionally raw compositions. “For Ella,” written after a visit to a graveyard, tip-toes around a lonely piano, highlighting a sodden beauty within. With the addition of violinist Macie Stewart and cellist Alejandro Quiles, “For Ella” becomes a lullaby, drenched in this eerie sense of warmth, sedating even the most despondent souls.
Friko’s ability to control head-turning speed and manipulate walls of sound has become an impressive facet of the band's overall summons, especially when edging into mature and often catchy melodies that form long lasting impressions. “We’re either too old, too bold, or stupid to move,” Kapetan sings, opening “Crimson To Chrome” with hesitant words, but on the contrary, exploding with deliberate tenacity. Followed by “Crashing Through,” Friko’s destructive distortion still leaves room for the light harmonies that the band has used to interpret depth so naturally. “Chemical,” cut from a sweaty and high endurance punk impulse, comes to a close as Kapetan bursts out with a brief and relieved “woah” – a reminder for even us to take a breath. “Get Numb To It!” is a textured and memorable anthem, where Minzenberger’s snare drum snaps with brute force, repetition of the line “get numb to it” begins to sound more like a demand than a plea in the moment.
At its heart, Where we’ve been, Where we go from here relies on the sentiment of wanting better for yourself; a feeling not unheard of, but as the world crumbles, there is dwindling hope for it to actually happen. Some of the album's rawest and most emotionally fervent moments flourish towards the end of the record, including “Until I’m With You Again,” a heartbreaking ballad of loss, waltzing with determination to make it back to the person that has been lost into the hereafter. The album ends with the fragile “Cardinal,” named for the stunning little red bird that stays year round and is also memorialized on the album artwork. Kapetan sings, “then the evening came, and punished me/The cardinal hit the ground.” When the things that we see as constant begin to fall, what do we have left? Friko’s sentiment, told through a beautiful and triumphant album that could collapse at any time, braces for the answer.