Special Friend Share New Single & Video “Selkie”

New album Wait Until The Flames Come Rushing In will follow on 30th June (vinyl LP, CD, digital). The single and album are co-released by Skep Wax Records and French labels Howlin’ Banana Records and Hidden Bay Records.

Paris-based duo Special Friend are American Erica Ashleson and French Guillaume Siracusa. They have a sound that’s somehow minimal and epic. On Selkie, her insistent drums, his reverberating guitar, and the plaintive melody in their voices join forces to conjure up the spirit of a beautiful, unknowable creature…

According to folk tales and mythology, a selkie is a seal who can swim ashore, shed her skin and transform herself into a beautiful human being for a while. Those folk tales also tell of Man’s cruelty – of selkies whose discarded sealskins were destroyed while they were in human form, deliberately preventing them from ever reclaiming their true animal identities.

Selkie is a song about magic and about cruelty. About celebrating and respecting the poetry of different beings, and accepting the fact that we should never try to master them.

The video was shot in France and in Spain while Special Friend were on tour. Selkie is one of many great tracks on the album, and follows a first single Bête, which gained extensive radio play across Europe and the US.

The band formed in 2018 and their first album Enemi Commun was released in 2021. Based in Paris, Special Friend have built a strong following in France, and the new album looks set to introduce them to the wider audience they deserve. Musically, you may be reminded of Yo La Tengo, Helvetia, Galaxie 500, Duster, Electrelane or the Pastels. But

Special Friend bring something new, something special! Special Friend are playing a special gig at the Lexington in London on June 30 th , alongside Skep Wax label mates Panic Pocket and Swansea Sound, to celebrate the launch of their album. (Tickets)