{"id":59556,"date":"2018-05-02T14:00:06","date_gmt":"2018-05-02T13:00:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/?p=59556"},"modified":"2018-05-01T22:24:56","modified_gmt":"2018-05-01T21:24:56","slug":"review-brand-new-friend-seatbelts-for-aeroplanes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-brand-new-friend-seatbelts-for-aeroplanes\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: Brand New Friend &#8211; Seatbelts For Aeroplanes"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/IMG_3181.jpg\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/IMG_3181-300x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" title=\"\"><\/a>The most immediate thing about <b>Brand New Friend<\/b> is the total lack of pretension. For a band who has been so hotly tipped by mainstream press, this Northern Irish quartet embody none of the highfalutin, \u201cartful\u201d features typically seen in such acts; this is far more palatable, and that\u2019s really the primary reason why <i>\u2019Seatbelts For Aeroplanes\u2019<\/i> works as well as it does.<\/p>\n<p>Because let\u2019s be frank \u2013 sonically, <b>Brand New Friend<\/b> are indebted to brands of power-pop and indie-pop with the \u201cpop\u201d firmly emphasised, the sort that wouldn\u2019t be out of the question for such quintessentially \u201890s acts as Teenage Fanclub and \u2013 of course \u2013 Ash. The likes of <i>\u2019I Was An Astronaut\u2019<\/i> and <i>\u2019Girl\u2019<\/i> fizzle with luscious melodic sensibilities and tweet keyboard lines, and there\u2019s a raggedness to Taylor and Lauren Johnson\u2019s harmonies to stop it all from feeling too clean.<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"Brand New Friend ~ Hate It When You Have To Go (Official Video)\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/qaxM0zHYPBY?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>On the other hand, things can dip into uncomfortable sugariness on the whistling keys of <i>\u2019Milk Chews\u2019<\/i> or the mostly-acoustic <i>\u2019A&amp;E\u2019<\/i> that lean into uber-trendy indie territory. Although it could be easy to slip into the guise of mainstream indie-pop darlings, which they avoid, for the most part, yet to see it happen presumably by accident is frustrating. It, unfortunately, spoils what could have been a more convincing facade. That\u2019s not to say they can\u2019t make up for it though, as the grungey <i>\u2019Sleep On My Floor\u2019<\/i> and the racing guitar work of <i>\u2019I Love You Goodbye\u2019<\/i> effortlessly prove.<\/p>\n<p>Any gripes are pretty minor though, and <i>\u2019Seatbelts For Aeroplanes\u2019<\/i> ends up proving to be a perfectly decent little release that shows a band overflowing with charm and playful affability. It\u2019s not groundbreaking, as is the case with most indie-pop of its kind, but it gets the job done in a way that not only sticks but also warrants many more repeated listens.<\/p>\n<p>3.5\/5<\/p>\n<p><i>&#8216;Seatbelts For Aeroplanes\u2019<\/i> by <b>Brand New Friend<\/b> is out now on <b>Xtra Mile Recordings<\/b>.<\/p>\n<p><b>Brand New Friend<\/b> links: <a href=\"https:\/\/facebook.com\/brandnewfriendmusic\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Facebook<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/brandnewfriendz\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Twitter<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/brandnewfriendz.bandcamp.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Bandcamp<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Words by Luke Nuttall (<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/nuttall_luke\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">@nuttall_luke<\/a>)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The most immediate thing about Brand New Friend is the total lack of pretension. For a band who has been so hotly tipped by mainstream press, this Northern Irish quartet embody none of the highfalutin, \u201cartful\u201d features typically seen in such acts; this is far more palatable, and that\u2019s really the primary reason why \u2019Seatbelts [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":59557,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[4319,15254,15029,15261,112],"class_list":["post-59556","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-album-reviews","tag-album-review","tag-brand-new-friend","tag-luke-nuttall","tag-seatbelts-for-aeroplanes","tag-xtra-mile-recordings"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Review: Brand New Friend - Seatbelts For Aeroplanes - Already Heard Staging<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The most immediate thing about Brand New Friend is the total lack of pretension. For a band who has been so hotly tipped by mainstream press, this\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Review: Brand New Friend - Seatbelts For Aeroplanes - Already Heard Staging\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The most immediate thing about Brand New Friend is the total lack of pretension. For a band who has been so hotly tipped by mainstream press, this\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-brand-new-friend-seatbelts-for-aeroplanes\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Already Heard Staging\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AlreadyHeard\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-05-02T13:00:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/IMG_3181.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Luke Nuttall\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@alreadyhearduk\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@alreadyhearduk\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Luke Nuttall\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Review: Brand New Friend - Seatbelts For Aeroplanes - Already Heard Staging","description":"The most immediate thing about Brand New Friend is the total lack of pretension. For a band who has been so hotly tipped by mainstream press, this","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"Review: Brand New Friend - Seatbelts For Aeroplanes - Already Heard Staging","og_description":"The most immediate thing about Brand New Friend is the total lack of pretension. For a band who has been so hotly tipped by mainstream press, this","og_url":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-brand-new-friend-seatbelts-for-aeroplanes\/","og_site_name":"Already Heard Staging","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AlreadyHeard\/","article_published_time":"2018-05-02T13:00:06+00:00","og_image":[{"width":600,"height":600,"url":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/IMG_3181.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Luke Nuttall","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@alreadyhearduk","twitter_site":"@alreadyhearduk","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Luke Nuttall","Estimated reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-brand-new-friend-seatbelts-for-aeroplanes\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-brand-new-friend-seatbelts-for-aeroplanes\/"},"author":{"name":"Luke Nuttall","@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/#\/schema\/person\/355c8ef8136051dd158a626d1b0eaf08"},"headline":"Review: Brand New Friend &#8211; Seatbelts For Aeroplanes","datePublished":"2018-05-02T13:00:06+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-brand-new-friend-seatbelts-for-aeroplanes\/"},"wordCount":353,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-brand-new-friend-seatbelts-for-aeroplanes\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/IMG_3181.jpg","keywords":["Album Review","Brand New Friend","Luke Nuttall","Seatbelts For Aeroplanes","Xtra Mile Recordings"],"articleSection":["Album Reviews"],"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-brand-new-friend-seatbelts-for-aeroplanes\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-brand-new-friend-seatbelts-for-aeroplanes\/","url":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-brand-new-friend-seatbelts-for-aeroplanes\/","name":"Review: Brand New Friend - Seatbelts For Aeroplanes - Already Heard Staging","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-brand-new-friend-seatbelts-for-aeroplanes\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-brand-new-friend-seatbelts-for-aeroplanes\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/IMG_3181.jpg","datePublished":"2018-05-02T13:00:06+00:00","description":"The most immediate thing about Brand New Friend is the total lack of pretension. For a band who has been so hotly tipped by mainstream press, this","inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-brand-new-friend-seatbelts-for-aeroplanes\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/review-brand-new-friend-seatbelts-for-aeroplanes\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/IMG_3181.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/IMG_3181.jpg","width":600,"height":600},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/#website","url":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/","name":"Already Heard Staging","description":"Covering the best in alternative music as best as we can","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/#organization","name":"Already Heard","url":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/AH-relaunch-logo-white-bg.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/AH-relaunch-logo-white-bg.jpg","width":500,"height":500,"caption":"Already Heard"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AlreadyHeard\/","https:\/\/x.com\/alreadyhearduk","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/alreadyheard\/","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/already-heard\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/AlreadyHeardMusic","https:\/\/tiktok.com\/@alreadyhearduk","https:\/\/www.threads.net\/@alreadyheard"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/#\/schema\/person\/355c8ef8136051dd158a626d1b0eaf08","name":"Luke Nuttall","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e1e96a8963ae771ced274c7b1fb9d0f10c4c8cc7322763e02b13910b93790807?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e1e96a8963ae771ced274c7b1fb9d0f10c4c8cc7322763e02b13910b93790807?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e1e96a8963ae771ced274c7b1fb9d0f10c4c8cc7322763e02b13910b93790807?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Luke Nuttall"},"description":"Based in Liverpool, Luke has been writing for Already Heard since 2015, as well as founding and editing his own website The Soundboard around the same time.","url":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/author\/lukenuttall\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59556","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=59556"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59556\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":59737,"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59556\/revisions\/59737"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/59557"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=59556"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=59556"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=59556"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}