Ferns: Fairweather Friends

By Alif Omar Mahfix  •  02 Feb 2012 in Review

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Ferns’ sophomore is a lot like its predecessor On Botany – jangly guitars, a sound informed by the past, and fuzzy sounds all around – but this time the band decided to anchor the record around a broad theme, the weather. Put away fears of second album delusion of grandeur though, this concept doesn’t carry any pretensions with it. Fairweather Friends doesn’t go beyond having vaguely weather-referential lyrics.

The dreampop vibe of On Botany is sidestepped and replaced with poppy rock’n’roll that might remind you of Couple had Aidil’s vocals went twee-er. Opening instrumental track, eponymously titled, hints at greater ambition, but by the time ‘Miss Stormcloud’ kicks in you’d feel relieved by the endearing simplicity of it all.

Frontman Warren Chan makes for a good neurotic twee protagonist, upbeat depressive tracks like ‘Anti Social Scene’ and ‘Sad Sack’ do a good job at negating any saccharine spillage from overly cutesy tracks like ‘A Funny Feelin’’. A little caution, you might puke rainbows after listening to that particular song. Closer ‘When You Fall Asleep’, a coyly self-deprecating song title, is as epic as twee can get – reminding us that this is a capable band. Fairweather Friends is unabashedly twee, and we love it.

LISTEN TO: ‘Anti Social Scene’ ‘Sad Sack’ ‘When You Fall Asleep’
IF YOU LIKE THIS YOU’LL DIG: Furniture, Couple, Mew
RATING: 3.5

Befriend Ferns at facebook.com/fernsband.