With “Nightshop”, Dutch alt-rockers FIEP expertly combine tongue-in-cheek adolescent angst with scuzzy, hooky-heavy joy. Almost like a spry contemporary indie pop version of Peggy Lee, founder Veerle Driessen stumbles into episodes of daydreaming and doubt. Her ambivalence is shushed promptly, though, by the track’s booming, catchy-as-fuck chorus, reminding herself that combining the act of having fun and mulling over pasts/futures is often a fool’s errand.
According to Driessen, the song struck her when she went out night swimming with a someone she was hanging out with at the time, not sure if that particular person was healthy for her down the line. “‘Nightshop’ is a symbol of freedom for me”, she comments. “Let the day be the day, enjoy and laugh. You can always go back to the nightshop whenever you suddenly lose your sense of time.”
“Nightshop” is the first taste of the upcoming five-song EP, which will be released this fall, recorded at MRF Recordings Studio in Amsterdam. For fans of Alvvays, Wet Leg and Courtney Barnett, FIEP should definitely hit the spot for the time being.
Watch the lyric video below, or listen on various streaming platforms.
