Gold Coast, Australia- Friends of Friends return with their most chaotic offering yet: I Like Ya – a hook-heavy, proudly unwell burst of obsession, desire, and bedroom-born mania.
“It actually started as this little jangly guitar part I was messing with – kind of a nod to Friday I’m in Love-era The Cure. It felt sweet and simple at first, but then Barnaby gave it teeth. It grew into something messier, sharper – and yeah, I guess there’s someone I was thinking about when I played it. That quiet craving. I think we’ve all felt it.” says Frank Christian. “I was trying to write something romantic this time around, but it came out a bit feral.” continues singer Barnaby Baker, “Love isn’t clean or logical – it’s chaos. Obsession. Desire. It’s messy and unfiltered and a little bit gross, but that’s what makes it electric.”
Driven by a Casio toy-like synth, scrappy live-band energy, and a chorus that hits like a bloodied Valentine, I Like Ya is pop with its guts hanging out – unstable, honest, and dangerously catchy. Clocking in at under three minutes, it’s equal parts anthem and emotional meltdown.
I Like Ya sharpens the band’s identity as DIY maximalists in a post-polish world – writing, recording, mixing, mastering, designing, and marketing everything from their bedrooms.
This one’s looser, meaner, and louder where it matters. It’s previous single, Attention’s drunk cousin.
The mix – gritty, spacious, and emotionally volatile – was handled entirely by Barnaby himself, whose recent work has earned nods from heavyweights like Dan Frizza (King Princess, Tove Lo, DMA’s), sliding into his DMs with praise. The track is imperfect and untuned in places with the band being adamant that they’re not about polish, they’re about proximity. I Like Ya sits in that weird little space between vulnerability and delusion.
Friends of Friends aren’t chasing perfection – they’re hunting something real. Something cracked open and still bleeding. With a sharpened aesthetic and an unshakable DIY ethic, “I Like Ya” marks the beginning of a new era: louder, messier, more honest than ever.
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Having cut their teeth opening for beloved acts such as Kasabian, Sea Girls, The Reytons, Slowly Slowly, Short Stack and many more, Friends of Friends have already built a widespread and dedicated fanbase, amassing over 1.1 million streams on Spotify, across only singles and their debut EP REAL LIFE, RIGHT NOW (2024). Sharing stages with the likes of Post Malone and The Wombats at festivals including Spilt Milk, BIGSOUND, SXSW Sydney and Easy Lover, and with Mike Shinoda from Linkin Park singing their praises at their showcase in Brisbane, Friends of Friends maintain a reputation as even more exhilarating of a live band as what they are on record.