[rating=4.00]
Sean Lennon’s debut, 1998’s Into the Sun, had laid-back, jazzy undertones that afforded him positive reviews and a place in the contemporary music world apart from either of his iconic parents. Now at age 31, Sean Lennon has matured and it is purely evident on Friendly Fire. The album tells the heartbreaking true-story of the falling out with his best friend, who slept with Lennon’s then girlfriend, only to die in an accident one year later before the two reconciled.
The record staggers between anger, hatred, guilt and innocence, beautifully packaged in a pop record adorned with sweet Beatlesesque acoustic melodies and poignant orchestration. Lennon takes us on an intense emotional journey beginning with the seething attack of his betrayer in "Dead Meat," intensified by Lennon’s refusal to raise his voice above a whisper through "Falling out of Love," in which he admits his fear of, well, falling out of love. After the gripping journey is over, one can only hope it’s not another eight years before Lennon graces us with another release.
