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Fairweather Friend Image
Metascore
84

Universal acclaim - based on 5 Critic Reviews What's this?

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  • Artist(s): Umbrellas
  • Summary: The second full-length release from San Francisco indie-pop band The Umbrellas features live drums.
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Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 5 out of 5
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 5
  3. Negative: 0 out of 5
  1. Jan 30, 2024
    80
    Arresting, yet often unexpected, ‘Fairweather Friend’ pilfers from the indie pop lineage, while daring to stamp out a unique identity of its own.
  2. Jan 30, 2024
    80
    The main directive of the album is paisley jangle, as with standout tracks like the enthusiastically poppy "Gone" or the fiendishly catchy "Goodbye," but the Umbrellas stretch their sound in all directions as Fairweather Friend plays out, calling on various corners of indie pop history yet translating it all into their own songwriting language.
  3. Uncut
    Jan 30, 2024
    80
    The band's sophomore effort feels like more than a photocopy of past indie-pop glories thanks to the surprisingly punchy contributions by bassist Nick Oka and drummer Keith Frerichs and the degree of craft and care evident even in songs as breezy as "When You Find Out". [Jan 2024, p.36]
  4. Jan 30, 2024
    80
    The Umbrellas have always offered bashed up, joyriding sweetness, but here they reach at—and intermittently attain—a Spector-esque wall of rock ‘n roll sound. Even better, that larger scale doesn’t undermine the vulnerability of their songs, but instead amplifies and clarifies it.
  5. Feb 5, 2024
    80
    Fairweather Friend is a great record, a genre standout deserving of adoration and acclaim beyond the niche of specialist blogs and, let’s be honest, the No Ripcords of the world. Great songs are still great songs in 2024. If you like those, you’ll love The Umbrellas.