Tribe Friday - “bubblegum emo”

We first discovered Tribe Friday just prior to the outbreak of the pandemic in February of 2020. Back then, the young Swedes were riding high on the success of a string of infectious singles, (including my favorite, the Kooks-esque “Talk So Loud”) and enjoying their first-ever visit to New York City. During their stay in the Big Apple, they got to play at Mercury Lounge, a career milestone for the early twenty-something, Strokes-worshipping group, who first got turned on to the whole Meet Me In The Bathroom scene from hearing “Reptilia” while playing Guitar Hero. That’s one way to discover the band that would change your life while growing up in rural Sweden. 

The events of the last few years may have slowed down bands like Tribe Friday, but it definitely didn’t knock them out. Sure, they thrived on their energetic live performance, which ceased for some time, but instead of getting discouraged, they focused on what was possible. The band stayed active by exploring new sonic influences, spending countless hours in the studio, boosting their presence on Tiktok, and churning out more memorable tunes. The trio managed to one-up their impressive 2019 with some of their most best work yet, including the foot-stomping “drugs x boys x drugs” and the shout-along inducing “get up.” Both tracks hinted at a new direction for the group, which is fully realized on their highly anticipated debut record, bubblegum emo.

Produced and written entirely by frontperson Noah Deutschmann, bubblegum emo is the culmination of the charismatic frontman’s overarching vision for a complete, long-form body of work. Previously concentrating their output on singles and EPs, this ten-song collection exudes maturity in its tone and themes. The album hits a high energy mark early on with “forward is the way out,” a song that seems to recommend pushing through the bullshit of party culture and surface-level relationships for your own sanity. The uptempo fire stays burning through the balance of the album’s first half, with tracks like “sugar” and “conversation” rolling out hook after hook in rapid succession. “there she goes” is the album’s clear line of demarcation, separating the album into its first and second half. It also represents a bit of a reprieve from the more rollicking first 15 minutes, as the band explores heartache in a more measured manner. Sounding unlike anything they’ve released, their first real ballad lands perfectly, benefitting from a hard-to-quantify authenticity and some perfectly placed instrumental touches, including an aching string section that mirrors the song’s somber tone. 

Authenticity is definitely one of the band’s hallmarks and likely the main reason listeners will want to see bubblegum emo all the way through. Beyond doing a bang-up job bottling up the energy of their live performances, Tribe Friday is also skilled at wearing their hearts on their sleeves lyrically. As the album comes to a close, this becomes even more apparent. The trio coalesces nicely around the highly emotive and harmonized choruses of both “…don’t wanna know“ and “stay inside,” which nicely segues into the scream that punctuates the start of the boppy album closer, “dead.” But the song isn’t all bubbly rock and roll, as it closes with a clip of Deutschmann crying. And really, that’s the most appropriate way to close out this record, as on bubblegum emo, Trube Friday shows that they’re all in - heart, soul, blood, sweat, and tears. When you’re that invested, sometimes you need to just need a good cry.

You can stream the entire record below.

bubblegum emo is out now via Artist For Artist. You can listen to all of Tribe Friday’s music via your streaming service of choice, including Spotify. Keep up with the band by checking out their website and following them on Instagram.

You can revisit our 2020 podcast interview with the band here on the site.