Photo: Pooneh Ghana

Following on from last month's glistening effort, For Ella, Chicago-based outfit Friko return to kick off the new year with their latest single Where We've Been. Taken from their forthcoming debut album, Where we’ve been, Where we go from here, out February 16th on ATO Records, it serves as another blistering introduction to their dynamic sound as swathes of guitar layers come crashing down around its softly rising crescendo and fraught delivery. “‘Where We’ve Been’ has sort of become the Friko theme song for the band,” says Niko. “Recording it was kind of the moment where it felt like the band really took on what it represents to all of us now. When we recorded it in the studio it was one rotation shorter and didn’t have the ending group vocal refrain, ‘Where we’ve been where we go from here, take your weight and throw your arms around me,’” continues Niko. “It kind of just fizzled out. After completing a few takes, Scott Tallarida (the producer of the record and our friend) took us aside and basically told us the song wasn’t finished. We were already in an emotional state from not getting the take we wanted and hearing that the song IS NOT FINISHED while recording it is kind of crazy.” Take a listen for yourselves below.