Sun 13 favourites LibraLibra are set to burst on to the scene again with a new single, Frenemies, out today with a tour scheduled for March 2023.
This is of course excellent news for lovers of music that refuses to sit happily in one genre or another when it could leap from soothing melodies to electronica to epic rock whenever it damn well pleases. This is a difficult trick to pull off but one that LibraLibra have made their own. It doesn’t hurt that in singer Beth they have one of the best voices currently treading the boards.
If you think this sounds a bit hyperbolic, one listen to Frenemies should bring you round. The track starts off with Beth channelling her inner Kate Bush over a lush string section and some echoing percussion before the song suddenly shifts into an electro-punk torrent of shouting and then back again.
The musical accompaniment on the quitter sections builds and subtly morphs before it shifts again into an angry playground taunt over pounding drums and an increasing wall of noise. Easy listening it is not.
Last time we spoke to LibraLibra, they described a previous release, Candy Mountain, as an “unapologetic revenge song.” Frenemies might again fit that description.
Beth says: “‘Frenemies’ is for all the fake friendships out there. Those friendships bound together through getting fucked up, loosing yourselves, your keys, your phone, blacking out and ending up a shell of your former self in a random kitchen at 4am with no way to get home. Your frenemy is your ride or die, you both should and could be each other’s saviors, but instead the chaos is calling and annihilation feels really good.”
Sun 13 can offer an exclusive of the video for Frenemies, which comes as a collaboration between the band and director Sorry Johnny Died. Shot on super8, the grainy footage feels like a creepy video tape found in an attic, the kind that these days might result in a horrifying Netflix documentary.
Thankfully, there will soon be more to come from LibraLibra, as Frenemies is just the opening salvo in their campaign, with further releases already being planned for 2023. This is enormously good news and, fingers crossed, will result in LibraLibra becoming one of our most talked about bands.
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