The world last heard from Special Friend, the Franco-American duo of Erica Ashleson and Guillaume Siracusa back in 2021 around the release of their debut long-player, Ennemi Commun. Two years on, the Paris-based pair are set to return at the end of June with their second offering, Wait Until The Flames Come Rushing In, released in the UK via Skep Wax, alongside two fabulous French labels, Howlin’ Banana Records and Hidden Bay Records. Ahead of the release, today the band are premiering the first track from the album, Bête.

Special Friends have a sound rooted in indie-pop in the classic sense, they walk the line of minimalism and epic, of simplicity and abounding ambition, the sound of two people finding the sound in their head and letting it out in the only way they know how. Erica’s clattering drum rhythms, Guillaume’s languid, luxuriant guitar lines, and a Bontempi Organ that slips in does its thing and then seem to just drift around like driftwood, following the musical currents wherever they take it. Atop it, the duo share vocals, switch between English and French without warning, and like Yo La Tengo or Galaxie 500 find a way to maximise emotional heft without a single wasted note.

The melodies here are so effortless that it’s easy to let the whole thing wash over you, only on repeat listens does the urgency really cut through, as for all its breeziness there’s also a message here, a song about humanity’s self-destructive tendencies, and the damage we cause to others along the way. The video, recorded in the summer at Studio Heat in Montreuil, where the album was recorded is just as unpretentiously cool, an open-ended invitation into Special Friend’s world, an offer to stay as long as you like, and with music this good you might just find that you never want to leave.

Wait Until The Flames Come Rushing In is out June 30th via Skep Wax Records | Howlin’ Banana Records | Hidden Bay Records. For more information on Special Friend visit https://specialfriend.bandcamp.com/