Folly Group have released new single titled ‘I’ll Do What I Can’, taken from their debut album Down There! which is set for release on 12th January 2024 via So Young Records. It follows recent singles ‘Strange Neighbour‘ and ‘Big Ground’ but presents a very different side to the band. With a much heavier sound, this track is nearer the rock end of the music spectrum. The distorted urgent vocals and darker vibe still moves at a pace that is expected from Folly Group. The guitar is tight and angular and the percussion is fast and furious. Speaking on the themes behind the track, vocalist and drummer Sean Harper says:
“I’ll Do What I Can’ is about forgiving in a situation when forgiveness doesn’t come naturally. We’ve all been wronged by a friend at some point. In those instances, we feel a push and pull between a kind of social muscle memory which helps us forget our upset for the sake of the group, and a separate internal voice that shouts: “you don’t owe this person your company right now.”
I suppose, it attempts to encapsulate a battle between comfort in the short term and peace in the long term. It tries to force itself through the moral hoops we all occasionally force ourselves through to wilfully let go of a grudge, because sooner or later we realise that holding a grudge means its target is winning.”
Collaboratively self-produced by the full band, debut album Down There! is thorough in its exploration of being a young adult in this country, covering mental health (‘Bright Night‘), physical health (‘Freeze‘), financial pressures (‘East Flat Crows‘), and more. Its lyrics are split between Harper and guitarist / vocalist Louis Milburn, who – despite their respectively more abstract and literal styles – deal with shared themes of “disenfranchisement, dejection, anxiety and financial ruin.” Harper explains. “For every personal step forward, an off-the-cuff decision by a politician we’ll never meet puts us two steps back – a lot of the time we’re basically furious.” This is illustrated in the 3D cave network on the cover: it features ten points, lifted from a map of the ten most important places in London to the record’s creation. “They’re represented as a cave, as a visual metaphor for feeling under the weight of the world,” he continues.
Folly Group Tour dates 2024
MARCH
6th – Brighton Patterns
7th – Bedford Esquires
8th – Cardiff Clwb Ifor Bach
9th – Bristol Strange Brew
12th – Birmingham Dead Wax
13th – Liverpool Arts Club
14th – Manchester Yes (Pink Room)
15th- Leeds Belgrave Music Hall
16th- Glasgow King Tuts
19th – Newcastle Cluny 2
20th – Nottingham Rescue Rooms
21st – London Scala
APRIL
2nd – Lille Aeronef Club
3rd – Paris Le Pop Up Du Label
4th – La Roche Sur Yon Quai M
6th – Bordeaux Rock School Barbey*
7th- Donosti Dabadaba
8th- Madrid Maravillas
9th – Barcelona Heliogabal
11th – Bologna Locomotiv
12th – Bern Isc
13th – Zurich Bogen F
16th – Schorndorf Manufaktur
17th – Prague Cafe Lese
18th- Dresden Polimagie Festival
19th – Berlin Urban Spree
20th – Osnabrück Pop Salon
23rd- Cologne Bumann & Sohn
24th – Nijmegen Merleyn
25th – Amsterdam Paradiso
26th – Rotterdam Roodkapje
28th – Brussels Botanique
* supporting Yard Act
For more information on Folly Group please check their facebook and instagram.