Shuffle | Friendly Fires x The Asphodells

Shuffle | Friendly Fires x The Asphodells

Ok. Talk about a match tailor-made for Dialogue Incorporated. We've long been fans of freewheeling indie rockers Friendly Fires; even more so after we saw them live for the first time—complete with Carnaval dancers—on a sun-soaked field in the north of England during Big Chill 2009. Our fondness for the band was further reinforced with its expertly-curated contribution to the BuggedOUT! series, which threw together the Egyptian Lover, Ryan Crosson, George Kranz, and Boo Williams.

Knowing all this, it's not a stretch to hear that the outfit has recently teamed with British DJ heavyweight Andrew Weatherall and his studio partner in the Asphodells, Timothy J. Fairplay, for a few pints and then a trip to the studio to see what might happen. The output from these recent sessions has become the debut release for Friendly Fires' newly launched Telophase label. "Before Your Eyes" and "Velo" each flirt with the 10-minute mark, grooving with the easy-going hypnotism you'd expect from a Weatherall work, but with added guitar play, expert rhythms, and Ed Macfarlane's telltale harmonic croons. 

In short, it's pretty much exactly what you'd hope for from putting these two groups in a small room together. Both tracks are available for streaming below and are available now on 12" single and digital download.

— Joshua P. Ferguson