Seven Years Later, the Dancefloor Sparks Are Flying Again
The Just In: Friendly Fires are back — and no, the indie-dance electricity did not get lost somewhere in the 2000s.
“Lose All Your Friends” marks the St Albans band’s first new music since 2019 and the beginning of a newly recharged chapter for Ed Macfarlane and Edd Gibson, who are now carrying Friendly Fires forward as a duo.
Discover More
FRIENDLY FIRES ARE BACK
Seven years after their last new music, Friendly Fires return leaner, looser and ready to shake things up with ‘Lose All Your Friends.’
Some links may be affiliate links. INYIM may earn from qualifying purchases.
Released via LAB Records, the single is being positioned as a genuine reset rather than a nostalgia exercise. The band’s new creative process has shifted back toward its roots: garage recordings, more live drums, less polish and more room for human impulse.
That makes perfect sense once “Lose All Your Friends” kicks in. This is not shoegaze so much as Friendly Fires rediscovering the sweet spot between shimmering synths, bright guitar, a grooving rhythm section and that euphoric indie-dance pulse they have always known how to light on command.
The personnel change is a major part of this return. Friendly Fires were long known as the trio of Macfarlane, Gibson and drummer Jack Savidge, but Savidge departed earlier in 2026. Rather than trying to recreate the exact shape of what came before, Macfarlane and Gibson have used the change as a reason to loosen everything up.
The title may sound like the start of a nervous breakdown, but the actual song is considerably more optimistic. “Lose All Your Friends” is about accepting disorder, taking the wrong turn, shaking up your life and recognizing that sometimes losing your footing is exactly how you end up somewhere better.
Friendly Fires sum up the new philosophy rather neatly: sometimes you have to lose everything to start again. Embrace the chaos. Take a chance. Do not be afraid of change.
Very convenient messaging for a band returning after seven years with fewer members and a new label situation — but even better when the song itself backs it up.
The comeback also arrives with Friendly Fires already moving back onto stages. The duo are due to join Two Door Cinema Club for U.S. dates in September, including Madison Square Garden in New York, before returning to London for Bugged Out! 2026 in October.
Most importantly, the band itself is signaling that this is not a one-off nostalgia flare: “This is just the beginning.”
Good. Because “Lose All Your Friends” sounds less like a reunion and more like somebody quietly reconnecting the electricity.
Watch Friendly Fires’ “Lose All Your Friends” Official Video
The official video accompanies Friendly Fires’ first new release since 2019 and opens the band’s new era as the duo of Ed Macfarlane and Edd Gibson.
Source: Friendly Fires / LAB Records.
