Friko Release Debut Album ‘Where we’ve been, Where we go from here'
Chicago’s own Friko have released their debut album ’Where we’ve been, Where we go from here’ out via ATO Records. Friko, made up of vocalist/guitarist Niko Kapetan and drummer Bailey Minzenberger have created a stunning musical moment with this album that sounds exactly how live music makes listeners feel. The raw and visceral emotional energy that the band is so well known for flows from every moment on this stunning release.
As Kapetan reveals, the frenzied and majestic opening track “Where We’ve Been” set the tone for the pure abandon embraced by Friko throughout the album’s creation (a process that also included former bassist and founding member Luke Stamos). “We’d tried recording a different version of that song and it didn’t feel right,” Kapetan recalls. “We went back in and reworked it and came up with something that was very much a group effort and doesn’t follow a pop structure at all, and it felt incredible—we were all sobbing afterward. It was something I’d never really felt before in music.”
The depth of the album with piano, violins, and cellos on songs such as the love song ‘For Ella’ contrasted with the blazing. distorted alt-rock energy of songs like ‘Chemical’ create a truly stunning listening experience from start to finish. Minzenberger recounts experiencing a profound sense of elation in the performance of “Chemical.” “It feels like I’m about to fall off my chair every time we play it, because it’s so fast and involved and the urgency of the guitar part fires me up in such a specific way,” they say. “It’s like being a kid and riding your bike really fast—this childlike adrenaline where you’re very much in your body.”
Friko is known for their high-energy live show, Friko aim to deliver a live experience that’s fantastically disorienting in its emotional arc. “We’ll try and play one of the really loud songs and go to a slow song right after that, so that it’s super-emotional and dramatic but also just a loose, good time,” says Kapetan. “I’ve had people tell me they had so much fun and danced a lot at our shows but then also cried, which hopefully means we’re giving them the full spectrum,” Minzenberger adds.
Lyrically the band have dug into emotional depths in a truthful and sincere way. “One of the main things we want to do as a band is talk about what’s happening right now and everything we’re feeling, with an honesty and directness that gets through to people,” says Kapetan. “I hope that our music helps everyone feel more deeply, but in a way that goes beyond just reacting to the song. I want it to pick people up, so that they can actually go out and do something with whatever they’re feeling.”
