Ever since Live Those Days Tonight was released as a web sampler for Pala back at the end of March, I've been looking forward to Friendly Fires' sophomore release with baited breath. So I was delighted to see it drop through my letterbox yesterday morning, and genuinely excited to slip the disc into my stereo shortly afterwards. Everything about this album seems designed to make it the soundtrack to the summer 2011, just as the band's self-titled debut was for many early adopters in 2008. From the colourful cover art (parrots are very 2011), to the increasingly funky and dancable direction of the music within, Pala is going to be hard to knock off my iPod until the sun goes away again in autumn.
