Friko’s latest record dives into train tunes, features a track about cycling, and even includes a number inspired by a hot air balloon. When the young Chicago collective spoke of transit as a central theme for their upcoming release Something Worth Waiting For, they weren’t exaggerating.
“If you purposely aim to fill an album with that kind of motif, I think it would turn out badly,” remarks Niko Kapetan, the band’s singer-songwriter and namesake, during a recent video chat with the full lineup. “But this material sprang from something deeply real and lived-in.”
All the rides and journeys might not have stacked up by design, but movement has clearly occupied their thoughts for solid reasons. While rooted in Chicago’s Hallogallo scene, alongside peers like Horsegirl and Lifeguard, Friko is now constantly on the move. It’s not quite the domestic whirlwind of a Beatles-era tour, but the newly expanded four-piece has embraced the life of an energized indie rock outfit in the 2020s, relentlessly touring and heading to studios to work with well-known producers.
In particular, they decamped to Los Angeles to collaborate with the esteemed veteran John Congleton on the new LP, slated to arrive later this month via ATO. Friko remains a young band in several senses: Kapetan and drummer Bailey Minzenberger were barely out of high school when they formed the outfit with former bassist Luke Stamos in 2019, and new bassist David Fuller and guitarist Korgan Robb only joined during the touring cycle for Friko’s 2024 debut Where We’ve Been, Where We Go From Here. Recording with Congleton—an acclaimed producer who has collaborated with a wide array of indie acts—sharpened their focus and clarified their aims.
“Because it was a fresh setting and so much around us was new, I felt like I was continually absorbing new lessons,” Minzenberger says. “I can picture all of it like a movie playing in my head.”
Congleton pushed the group beyond mere discussion and into experimentation, guiding them on how to respond to one another and when to give space. Songs that had taken shape in a Chicago practice space—about maturing in the Windy City—gained fresh breadth when relocated to a different place under the tutelage of a seasoned pro.
“It truly felt like a solitary, exploratory mission,” Fuller notes. “I don’t want to call it a side quest because, clearly, this remains a main quest. But being immersed in a wholly new environment gave me the chance to infuse my approach to the music with a new hue.”
Something Worth Waiting For lives up to its title. The record takes Friko’s promising debut further, intensifying chant-along hooks and explosive dynamics as Kapetan belts with the ardor of Y2K-era favorites such as Conor Oberst or Thom Yorke. After years when indie rock bands leaned toward a more controlled, streaming-friendly sound or delved into emotionally guarded post-punk, this release feels like a swing back toward grand gestures and big emotions—evoking the no-holds-barred emotional releases of early 2000s indie rock, or even the grander scale of ’70s arena rock.
“We got together and said, ‘All these bands are making tiny music; we have to make the huge music!'” Kapetan jokes. “No, it was naturally aligned with our influences. My dad loved Led Zeppelin and Queen and all that colossal classic rock stuff. As I grew, the bands that pulled me in tended toward intensity on a larger canvas—think the Strokes, or Broken Social Scene—bands that could feel big while still living in indie aesthetics.”
You can sense all of that energy coursing through the new album. The electric advance track “Choo Choo” feeds the itch for fans of Arcade Fire who crave a bigger sound, while the lead single “Seven Degrees” calls to mind the Beatles and Bowie at their most anthem-like. Tracks like the opener “Guess” and the late-arriving title piece push from restrained tension into all-consuming swells of distortion, and even a more intimate cut like “Certainty”—featuring a string arrangement by blog-era mainstay Jherek Bischoff—finds Kapetan’s voice soaring with the fervor of Grizzly Bear’s Ed Droste.
“We’re the kind of group who wears their hearts on their sleeves,” Kapetan elaborates. In crafting his voice and his direction as an artist, he experimented with a range of approaches, including moments of cool detachment. Yet the group’s love of unleashing a colossal racket remains strong, and they relish the possibility of a transformative communal moment. “I still haven’t seen LCD Soundsystem in concert, but that’s the vibe I’d imagine—that sense of grandeur and restraint, a message that feels enormous but remains tasteful. It isn’t Guns N’ Roses.”
With Congleton’s guidance—a disciple of Steve Albini whose own work with the Paper Chase is visceral and unpolished—Friko crafted a record suited to that kind of cathartic release. But no amount of studio magic can substitute for the spark that must already be present. The band first had to write pieces that could deliver the ecstatic release they were seeking.
“In rehearsal, we focus on what feels right in our bodies when we play for ourselves, and we trust our instincts,” Robb says. “Sometimes we speak in coded references—maybe about guitar tones—yet most of the time it’s about serving the song and listening to what the moment tells us.” Minzenberger adds, “It’s fascinating how physical this music can be.”
For those chasing that extra jolt of energy, Something Worth Waiting For delivers. The title itself hints at the ongoing quest for something greater, but the record itself sounds as if a band has finally arrived—whether by train, bicycle, or hot-air balloon.
Friko – Something Worth Waiting For [LP]
$22.11
Amazon
Something Worth Waiting For is out 4/24 on ATO.
