‘Pressure Pad’ by Folly Group | New Album, ‘Down There!’
Exclusive video premiere of ‘Pressure Pad’ by UK experimental post-punk Folly Group, taken from the upcoming album, ‘Down There!,’ out January 12th, 2024 via So Young Records.
Fresh off the heels of an acclaimed 2021 debut EP ‘Awake And Hungry’ and last year’s ‘Human And Kind,’ Folly Group’s long-awaited debut album has thus far been introduced by three singles — ‘Strange Neighbour,’ ‘Big Ground,’ and ‘I’ll Do What I Can’. Now, the band shares one last single from their upcoming LP, ‘Pressure Pad,’ alongside an accompanying music video. Speaking on their newest cut — which lyrically touches on the all-consuming power of unconditional love — vocalist/drummer Sean Harper wrote:
“Musically, ‘Pressure Pad’ is a testament to how far we’ve come as collaborators. Every different kind of remote or in-the-room collaboration we’ve ever found fruitful was involved in creating this Frankenstein’s Monster of a single. Its final version arrived after months of exchanging files, ideas and needless spanners in the works. This is probably the 6th or 7th iteration of this song, and its final form was ultimately dictated by a deadline – we’d probably never have been able to call it finished otherwise. Every room in which this album was made has birthed one or more elements of ‘Pressure Pad:’ Louis’s flat, Tom’s flat, our rehearsal space, the studio where we recorded the bulk of the record. Lyrically, it touches on someone else being a massive part of yourself, but loving it. It’s about totally going with the flow of a relationship, becoming someone you never otherwise would have been, but not over-analysing that, rather being grateful for it.”
Folly Group collaboratively self-produced ‘Down There!,’ working with a shifting cast of instruments courtesy of Milburn’s day-job. “I work at a place that buys and sells equipment, so this stuff constantly moves through,” he explains. “We might have a vintage Roland in, so we’ll use it for some songs. Two weeks later the band will say ‘can we do that again?’ but it’ll be gone – sold to someone with actual money.” The album is full of curious additions, including the sounds of members hitting chairs and fire extinguishers, while the combination of live and programmed drums feeds into their live shows: forming a basis for the electrifying, heavily-improvised back-and-forth between percussionists Akinde-Hummel and Harper.
The band members all reflect differently on what they’d like listeners to take from ‘Down There!’. “I’d like it to be something that not just people who listen to post-punk can relate to,” Akinde-Hummel says. “I want somebody to be walking to school listening to it,” adds Milburn. “They’ve got to nip across the park, and it’s full of mist because it’s four degrees and the second week of January.” “I’d like it if people felt they were hearing a band that wasn’t resting on its laurels,” claims Harper. “I’d like “surprise,”” adds Doherty. “I’d like it if there’s just one or two moments on this album where someone who doesn’t know much about us goes “Oh. Fuck me. That’s a bit special.””
“We’re a post-rock band that sounds like the city we live in”
What would you say are some of the main influences that lead you to the formation of Folly Group?
Tom Doherty: At the risk of not answering this question properly, I think that the band was formed as a result of wanting to create together far more than the effect of a set of influences. As is likely to be the case when you have four people working together, there is a lot of variance between each member’s taste and listening habits. Which in my opinion is usually very beneficial. It’s probably safe to say that in the early days there was a good amount of the usual post punk stuff being consumed, especially at that time bands like Omni and Parquet Courts as that genre was having a bit of a moment in the UK at the time. We then started to meld these with influences like Soulwax and Portishead to name but a few to inform the production side of our music and incorporate some dance-y and trip hop elements into the process. Since then though things have diversified quite a bit and everyone bringing their individual preferences to the table, and mashing them together, is what you hear on the album. As I said before though, the most important factor in starting this band was just a desire to start making something together and see what comes out the other side.
How long did you work on your debut EP, ‘Awake And Hungry’ and how would you compare it to your latest album? Do you see any difference in how you approached it?
Louis Milburn: Our debut EP was written and recorded in the bedroom of a house that me, Tom and Sean shared in Leyton East London over lockdown when we had all the time in the world so, inevitably it came together fairly quickly albeit probably spread over six months or so of being locked in our house. Kai would then ping his parts over from his bedroom in Peckham as we sent him works in progress, there was no pressure and lots of time which led to a lot of experimentation and a fairly painless collaborative process. This time round, the album was very much squashed-in around full time jobs and touring. We’d sneak into my work’s studio after close and under the cover of darkness to record these songs in short spurts around the rest of our lives. We all live separately at this point and would bring the songs together to record sometimes before even learning the songs live, inevitably recording some songs over and over again as we learnt them better and work on them as a band but also sometimes just plucking the songs out of an individual laptop demo and recording it once fully formed. This process was then spread out over 18 months while we chipped away at ‘Down There!,’ it was the sort of record that could have gone on forever in the making but at some point we had to just put an end to it. It was also the first record we haven’t mixed ourselves which was nice as it felt like a real end to the process.
What would you say is the overall vision of the band and what kind of concept were you looking for in the making of ‘Down There!’?
Tom Doherty: The overall vision of the band is just to make music that we’re proud of and if we can have a laugh and a little dance while doing so then so be it. For this album though, as far as we can tell, there is an overarching mood and feeling to it. It’s far from a happy record and things tend to steer more towards the paranoid and gloomy side of things. There’s all sorts of topics touched on throughout, most of which will be familiar to anyone trying to work out what they’re doing while the world appears to be going completely and utterly south in the background. Make of it what you will!
Louis Milburn: There’s a real big city theme to the record as well and I think (much like the album cover) the album in a way maps our experiences living and working and making this album across London in what feels like quite a dark chapter in its history.
Are you planning to play a lot of gigs?
Tom Doherty: Absolutely, there’s lots that have been announced and there’s even more in the pipeline. The main objective when starting this band was to deliver the best thing possible on the live side of things. It’s the bit we love most and we’re legitimately excited to show off the album in places we know and love as well as a few we’ve never ventured to before.
It’s really difficult to describe your sound without including several genres, how would you describe it?
Louis Milburn: My answer to this changes every week but at the moment I think we’re a post-rock band that sounds like the city we live in and therefore there’s bits of trip-hop, dance and various other genres added in.
What are some future plans for you?
Tom Doherty: Tour the Christ out of this album, have loads of fun meeting some lovely people on the way, bang out another one. Repeat.
Before we go, what are some of the albums you like to listen to lately?
Tom Doherty:
Lankum: ‘False Lankum’
A Place To Bury Strangers: ‘Exploding Head’
Beak: ‘Beak >’
Talk Talk: ‘Laughing Stock’
Headache: ‘The Head Hurts but the Heart Knows the Truth’
Vessel – ‘Queen of Golden Dogs’
Klemen Breznikar
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