Skep Wax Archives - Various Small Flames https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/skep-wax/ New and independent music Fri, 20 Feb 2026 21:02:23 +0000 en-GB hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 https://i0.wp.com/varioussmallflames.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/cropped-finalwhite-e1490809629909-1.jpg?fit=32%2C32&ssl=1 Skep Wax Archives - Various Small Flames https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/skep-wax/ 32 32 88787050 Special Friend – Clipping https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2026/02/20/special-friend-clipping/ Fri, 20 Feb 2026 21:02:23 +0000 https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/?p=47789 Next month Franco-American duo Special Friend—that’s Erica Ashleson (drums & vocals) and Guillaume Siracusa (guitar & vocals)—are set to return with Clipping, a new full-length with Howlin’ Banana and Skep Wax which updates their minimalist, lo-fi indie pop sensibilities with extra richness. “Drawing on folk, slowcore and krautrock influences, [the album] opts for a newfound layer of attention and polish to the mixing,” we wrote in a preview back in January, with single ‘Breakfast’ introducing the style with an infectious […]

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]]> Next month Franco-American duo Special Friend—that’s Erica Ashleson (drums & vocals) and Guillaume Siracusa (guitar & vocals)—are set to return with Clipping, a new full-length with Howlin’ Banana and Skep Wax which updates their minimalist, lo-fi indie pop sensibilities with extra richness. “Drawing on folk, slowcore and krautrock influences, [the album] opts for a newfound layer of attention and polish to the mixing,” we wrote in a preview back in January, with single ‘Breakfast’ introducing the style with an infectious take on our ever-eroding attention spans.

With the release of Clipping only weeks away, Special Friend have returned with the title track to further whet our appetites. Crafted around the skeleton of a guitar loop, the single still carries the lo-fi pop DNA which so marked the duo’s previous releases, though extra guitar lines lift the song above this style, and a marked change of tempo two-thirds of the way through expands the emotional landscape of the sound too. Factor in Siracusa’s lead vocals and Ahleson’s light harmonies and the result is yet more evidence of the evolution of the Special Friend project.

Watch the cameoscope video filmed by Jules Vandale and edited by Erica Ashleson below:

 

Clipping will be released via Howlin’ Banana Records and Skep Wax on the 20th March and you can pre-order it now.

Vinyl artwork for Clipping by Special Friend

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