Infectious indie-disco trio Friendly Fires are set to play Norwich as one of just three gigs that marks their first UK shows since 2012 as they confirm new music.
Friendly Fires are playing the Waterfront on March 30, which together with a gig in Leeds the previous day , one of two warm-ups gigs ahead of a big return show at London's Brixton Academy on April 5.
The return to live action comes as the St Albans trio - who last released their last album, Pala, in 2011 – also confirmed they are set to release new music after a long period of seeming inactivity.
The band, made up of Ed Macfarlane, Jack Savidge and Edd Gibson, made a big impression with their self-ttitled debut album, Friendly Fires, which was nominated for the Mercury Music Prize in 2009. They lost to Speech Debelle's Speech Therapy.
Their second album, Pala was released in 2011 and taking its lead from their terrific 2009 single Kiss of Life, was full of retro-pop and tropical electronic beats.
They released an edition of the well regarded Late Night Tales compilation series in 2012 and last year frontman Ed Macfarlane released Glistens, a compilation album of 'rare, unreleased 80s synth soundtracks', but their last recorded piece of music surfaced in 2014, a collaboration with Andrew Weatherall DJ-producer-remixer project Asphodells.
Now new music seems to be on the horizon following their return to live action in Norwich, Leeds and London, and ahead of a busy summer of festival appearances.
Explaining why it taken so long, the band post on Facebook: 'Creativity can be an ephemeral thing. Sometimes ideas flow, as does the confidence to develop them into finished pieces of work. Other times it's a struggle but you battle through it, and during some even more difficult times it feels like nothing comes at all.
'Well, we feel like we've reached the end of a long period of the latter scenario and are much closer to the former. We're making music that is meeting the standards we've set in the past; the relationships between us are good, and we want to write a new chapter for the band that has been our lives' most significant work.
'It's taken time and water under the bridge to get to this point, but in many ways us coming back now after a long break could be the best possible way for it to happen. We're working out of Ed's old garage, just like we did at the start. Our individual addictions - largely to modular synths and county cricket - are finally under a semblance of control.
'Thank you for being patient, you mean the world to us and we want to repay you all with the stuff we have planned. We've always been proud that our fans seem to reflect the core ideals we built the band around - open, inclusive people who came to our shows to have a good time and celebrate.'
• Friendly Fires play the Waterfront, King Street, Norwich, on March 30, 6.30pm, £17.50, 01603 508050, ueaticketbookings.co.uk
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