Friko, Something Worth Waiting For

Friko have played an integral part in bringing a spotlight to Chicago's indie rock since their inception. The band is known for melding distorted guitars with poignant lyricism and leaving a lasting impression through lead singer Niko Kapetan’s emotive vocal delivery. Their stunning 2024 debut record brought them much acclaim as a new act and set them up nicely to hit it out of the park with their next project. Friko’s sophomore album, Something Worth Waiting For, sees the newly expanded quartet fill into bigger, older, and wiser shoes. It is a passionate collection of tracks steeped in restless optimism and a lucidity to the sadness of life, coupled with sweeping arrangements and their signature expressive vocals.

Friko was formed in 2019 by Kapetan, drummer Bailey Mizenberger, and bassist Luke Stamos upon meeting each other in high school. After releasing their first demos and EPs, the band set out to create a record that captured youth, their apprehension of the world, and the resolve that we must keep moving in spite of it all. With that, Where we’ve been, Where we go from here was born, a stellar debut that accomplished all they wished to in a clear and loud manner. It was obvious from this release that the young rockers had something important to say, and people were eager to listen. Shortly thereafter, Stamos departed the band, leaving bassist David Fuller and guitarist Korgan Robb to fill the void left by one of the founding members. Something Worth Waiting For, then, is the first creation from Friko as a fully-formed quartet, and they seem to make the most of that enthusiastically.

The record begins with the deceptively turned down “Guess”, which in true Friko fashion, grows to become ineluctable. Though the vocals and Robb’s guitar riff are pitch perfect for the track, the lyrics are of higher importance, a common theme throughout the entire album. Kapetan begs:

Don’t make me guess

If that’s a cry or a laugh…

Cause there’s hardly enough in this world

To make us happy

As we well know, humans are complicated creatures, often making things harder for ourselves than they need to be. In this case, someone has Kapetan pondering what emotion they are expressing, but he does not want to waste time guessing it is the sad one. He decides to view it as a laugh, as a swim, as a gaffe. The message being to look to positivity and seeing the best in every situation, particularly because life is hard and negative enough as it is. Friko frame this frequent sentiment in the most original way, as if it is a new feeling altogether.

“Still Around” follows, a jumping, upbeat number with Fuller’s itch-scratching bass and Kapetan’s catchy lines. “It only starts to come when you need it most” being one of them that succinctly sums up a way to look at the longing and delay in goodness we may face. Life can get bad but we are still here, still around, and that is something to be grateful for. Another bass-forward track, “Choo Choo”, comes in terse lyrically, but does not lack in sonic variation. This one speaks of what it's like to be on the road for a living. How lonely it can get, but also how fulfilling it is to be able to do what you love with your closest friends. Themes of transportation and movement are present across this album, and Friko take advantage of the weight those metaphors hold. The time and tempo changes carry that feeling of unsteadiness but ultimately come to a conclusion of climbing aboard and going along for the ride.

The next song brings the record to a wistfully personal place. “Alice” beautifully, and not without sadness, expresses how we should not live alone with our harsh thoughts. We must allow ourselves to lean on those who love us and also be there for others in their time of need. With tight drums and silky background vocals from Mizenberger, this slower, earnest tune spells out the cure for hopelessness: love and empathy. From there, we’re led into “Certainty”, another track that yanks at the literal strings of the heart. This one is quite evocative and more theatrical in form. More talk of trains and buses leave listeners feeling a breeze through their hair, alongside words that conjure a childlike wonder. The piano, strings, and story take center stage and the way the chords progress and all these pieces crescendo to their peak is not only touching but truly glorious.

To continue the discussion of movement, “Hot Air Balloon” enters bathed in sunlight and nostalgia. Kapetan sounds clearly older here than he did on their previous record, and that adds to the message being portrayed. This track sets itself free from the self-consciousness and dread of the aforementioned travel and finds peace in the ability to always be moving. The album finds a balancing point here, in sound between the drums, vocals, and guitars, but also in subject and feeling.

Next is “Seven Degrees”, the first single released from this project. Kapetan describes the seven types of people in degrees you will encounter in your life, as a guideline from his dad. Your parents are first, friends are second, followed by those who will break your heart and hurt you. Then, there is the seventh degree, that someone you have yet to meet but will one day change your life. In this track, we hear echoes back to “Still Around” and “Certainty”, being assured that this person will come along when you need them most, being certain they’re just through the next door. Kapetan belts out that he’s “Counting out the days ‘til [they] meet”, which bears a hearty sentiment of optimism.

Track eight brings us the title track in “Something Worth Waiting For”. In all the story telling present in the other songs, this one connects those pressure points and overflows with a deafening guitar and an infectious zeal. This is the final admittance that, however long it takes, the seventh degree is something worth waiting for, which is a spirit we should chase in life. It would also be remiss not to mention the calls back to their debut album. There’s talk of statues, more trains, and even when thinking of the name of the last record, they may have not known where they would end up, but it seems to have been worth all it took to get here.

Something Worth Waiting For closes out with “Dear Bicycle”, a six-minute behemoth that

contains chilling lines and chords, and sees Friko at their very best. The track begins with the same guitar hum present at the start of “Until I’m With You Again”, and highlights yet another mode of transportation. Mizenberger found inspiration for this ambient, jammy tune in Yo La Tengo’s “Green Arrow”. The lyrics are drenched in a sweet sorrow with discussion of a rusty, forgotten bicycle hiding out behind a shed. Kapetan, and Mizenberger in the tenderest background vocal, remind the bike that “There’s kids that want to play around/ Don’t let them down”. From the feeling of freedom and happiness that the album cover evokes and how this track connects to it, “Dear Bicycle” leaves listeners on the gentlest and most endearing note.

In Something Worth Waiting For, the Chicago indie rock quartet use everything they’ve learned from their first album cycle to catapult their growth on this second. They continued to hone their already tasteful songwriting chops and deliver tracks that shred rather than just tug on the heartstrings. The band as a whole seems more sure of the sound they wish to create, with all the same fervor as before. Though it is quite unbelievable how they were able to somehow expand on what was already a brilliant first record, you can hear how open they are to digging into the recesses of themselves and to drawing inspiration from their influences to make something fresh and uniquely them. Friko have something to say, a voice and song within them that needs to be let out. Through this album, they are making music for this very moment, which is something to be proud of and, certainly, something worth waiting for.

'Something Worth Waiting For', Friko's sophomore album was released April 24, 2026, via ATO Records