What Are Friends For

A somewhat enigmatic proposition by current UK standards, sounding refreshingly out of step with current trends, Charlottefield's sophomore LP is still undoubtedly informed by post-hardcore and post-punk experimentalism, yet bears witness to a band clearly focused on extending their sonic palette. What Are Friends For (the title again written as a bleak rhetorical statement as opposed to a question) is a fresh chapter in the band's recorded history, reflecting a wider sense of pace and dynamics, and a broader contextual understanding of itself. Sharp, repetitive and immediate, yet guided by melody and deftly arranged, somewhere out of tension comes something life affirming.