Friends – XOYO, London
The band is decent, but it's good-time gal Sam Urbani that's the star of this show
Words Steph Kretowicz
Buzzy buzz band from Brooklyn, Friends, exist in a sickly sweet universe where they can sell out two London shows without even releasing a full-length album. For the people at this one, the blueberry-flinging, soul-singing, inanely bantering, born entertainer Samantha Urbani plays ‘hostess with the [too-much]-est’ in a performance that just loves to bring the fun in.
A lot of people are super-excited over the zany antics of this pop princess-in-the-making at XOYO. She impishly complains “There’s a fucking fence in the way?” referring to an unwelcome stage barrier, before adding, “That’s not gonna stop me!” Urbani lives up to her declaration of independence, crooning “I know I don’t want no one suffocating me” on jittery pop standout ‘I’m His Girl’. That song is more about “open relationships”, as she reminds us, but it pretty much applies to her liberal attitude to performing in general. She generously impresses a full-bodied bear hug on an audience member who joins her on stage for a frolic, shares around her blueberries by throwing them at people and excitedly announces the band’s new Skype friend and fan is right there in front of them, in the flesh.
Of course, Urbani isn’t the only member of Friends. She reminds us when grabbing fellow female Lesley Hann in a head lock and responding to an audience observation with, “Yeah, she’s really hot, right?” Other, multi-instrumental members of the band make their presence known by taking up some sort of percussion for the exceptionally tight mid-song breakdowns. But generally all eyes are on Urbani, as bassist and drummer polish off a bottle of Jack Daniels in the background.
You can’t fault that voice, either. As one that goes from croaky gurgle to a piercing squeal in no time, Urbani isn’t lying when she breaks off midway through a diva-like vocal trill to remark, “This is some Mariah Carey shit right here.” Needless to say, that’s a lot of pipe and personality for a scruffy indie rock band to prop up. Their cover of Ghost Town DJs’ ‘My Boo’ is a clear indication of where the urban chart pop star, parading about as a streetwise slacker, is really headed.
The Rapture might have broken the banks for dance-pop exuberance in 2003 but Friends take it to the next level of naïvety. Born from the punk-funk depths of NYC’s mutant disco days but raised on a diet of cassette-tape soul and R&B, Urbani & Company carry the early millennial craze to new heights of mildly off-putting merriment. Anyone boring enough to be “doing the standing still” thing risks being assaulted on all sides by flailing hips, hairstyles and blinding grins, while shaking themselves from an experience that’s either an awesome party or waking nightmare.
