EP Review: Folly Group - 'Human and Kind'
Coming hotly off the back of the release of their debut EP , Folly Group are back with their sublime follow up ‘Human and Kind’, a record that is sure to set the London four-piece aside from their contemporaries.
Emerging from the bubbling melting pot of the London music scene, Sean Harper, Louis Milburn, Tom Doherty and Kai Akinde-Hummel have been releasing music under the moniker of Folly Group since the beginning of 2021. Their debut EP ‘Awake and Hungry’ released on So Young Records was met by wide spread critical acclaim and was championed by the likes of Steve Lamacq and Lauren Laverne at BBC 6 music. The record showed the groups versatility throughout, veering from anxious freneticism to primal danceability and as a body of work it fit perfectly within post-punk zeitgeist that seemed to define the times.
On their latest EP ‘Human and Kind’ the Londoners take huge steps forward in a record that shimmers with the confidence and vibrancy of a band on the rise. Speaking about the new release the band said “Where Awake and Hungry doubled as a diary of the band’s formative months and encapsulation of our live show, Human and Kind is a projection of our ambition, and our desire to push ourselves through what we might previously have perceived as the ceiling of possibility for four players. The release is at once introspective and extroverted: it attempts to be a dynamic interrogation of grief and growth.”
The lead single from the record ‘I Raise You (The Price Of Your Head) is a prime example of the bands growth. A track that is politically rooted and one that seamlessly fuses their signature, percussion led sound with a new wave groove to create the bands most danceable track to date and one that is sure to get people moving when they head out on their headline tour later this month. Discussing the track the band explained “I Raise You (The Price of Your Head)’ is a pandemic-era role-reversal between politician and young person that poses the question: you were happy to gamble with my life, what if I were to gamble with yours?”.
Throughout the five track EP the band show their versatility by navigating various sonic landscapes and their experimentation has no doubt been rewarded with every cut proving that Folly Group are a band with infinite promise. The EP sparkles most at the points where the band venture furthest from the beaten track, with ‘The Tooth of February’ undoubtedly the highlight of the track listing. Darker and more expansive than the remainder of their output to date, the song has echoes of early ‘Gilla Band’ and shows the creative dexterity and technical mastery that the band posses as a collective.
It is rare that an EP comes along that sparks genuine excitement within the listener however, ‘Human and Kind’ is a record that dazzles from the outset and throughout. Relentless in it’s exploration of new territory, this one is an early contender for EP of the year and well and truly earmarks Folly Group as the ones to watch in 2022.
Words by Jordan Corrigan
