Track of the Week: Fletchr Fletchr fight small-town insanity on ‘Find Happiness’
They talk about things like sleaze and acoustic guitars being the key to recapturing the true heart of indie. What I really want is an unbridled, blazing anthem.
It’s as if the Cornish band Fletchr Fletchr have heard this call from on high, and delivered the goods in the form of their latest single, ‘Find Happiness’. As a blueprint of their debut EP We All Feel The Same via FF Records, this is a four-piece who are blitzing their way on to the scene in a blistering but uniquely British way.
The British aspect does bear mentioning as the sound of the track has some hallmarks of a typically American branch of indie – think of the likes of Bleachers or Muna, to a certain extent. Lyrics chanted like incantations, angsty but equal parts hopeful, there’s the sense that even though things are bleak, there is reason to look ahead to the future.
Of course, Fletchr Fletchr give this their own imprint in the video to the ‘Find Happiness’, as they are seen wandering the streets and fields of their hometown, amid a backdrop of dismal but typically English autumnal weather. This makes it feel as though the bottle is ready to explode, the rocket is ready to launch: these small-town surroundings are far too insular for their stratospheric ambitions.
Through the pounding lyrics of the chorus, as lead singer Rohan Fletcher belts out: “Are you losing your mind?/ ‘Cause I know I’ve lost mine/ In a town you barely know/ Where nothing ever seems to change,” the past searingly collides with the present. Despite their early years, this is a band who have already endured so much – grief, loss, anxiety – and this breakout track is the manifestation of them finally being set free.
You can’t shake the feeling that, despite their intimate surroundings, set to a landscape of cheap beers drunk on the sidelines of football fields and local skate parks, Fletchr Fletchr are harbouring something that will take them far beyond the lines of these liminal spaces. Give it a few years, and they might indeed be finding happiness alongside crowds of thousands.
Naturally, that pipeline dream is still a long way off; there is still a lot of climbing to do first. It might be 200-cap rooms in small towns and cities for now, but it’s clear from this song alone that the band have major and massive heights set in their future. Perhaps sooner than we think, all that bottled angst is going to reach its boiling point.
Many bands and artists can relate to the feeling of being shackled by their own native and seemingly sleepy corner of the world, no matter where that happens to be. They’re also well-versed in penning those feelings into song. But Fletchr Fletchr’s take on this state of affairs might just be one that captures the world.
When you really think about it, indie has never been all that massively evolutionary: its basic cornerstones revolve around the same ideas of love and lust and longing every single time. This may never change, but it’s how you choose to package it that’s the real key. Fletchr Fletchr seem to have unlocked the door.
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