In today’s age, technology has flooded our lives with content. Caught in the mire are today’s musicians who champion an art form that’s more widely distributed than any other throughout human history. And we, more often than not, overlook the music created by unfamiliar faces because it’s challenging. We’d rather have an easy listen, a known quantity to skim through while we think about something else.
Hearing is easy, but listening is difficult. Welcome to “Why We Like It”, where we rebuke the trends in favor of thoughtful analysis and underknown sounds.
“Only One” — fika
Listen On:
How We Found It
fika, the South London duo of Sam & Al, know how to deliver some soulful jams. After impressing us with, “Slow Things Down,” they return to us again to drop a song of longing in our SubmitHub inbox. It’s easy going, relaxing, and pleasant to remind me of this loving feeling.
Their dream-like sound that combines soul with guitar led grooviness is reminiscent of John Mayor and Mac Ayres. It’s a song that just melts into you and warms you up.
Why We Like It
As someone who has been in multiple long distance relationships, I know the hardships of trying to make it work even when that longing is something that constantly pulls at your heartstrings. But I believe that when love is true, distance is a small factor in fulfilling that need. Having the ability to transform and channel that tugging feeling of love and turn it into something sonically pleasing and relatable is a true talent. On fika’s spring-time jam, “Only One”, the duo sing with that longing in mind.
Instrumentally, the track is sparse with the guitar in the beginning as it uses the thumping bass and shaking tambourine in the back to lead the singers’ heavenly voices along. As the track continues, so does their longing. The instruments grow in intensity before ultimately taking over and becoming the lead in the final minute of the song. It’s an affectionate swell of emotion that increases with every call from their loved one. The guitars on this track are funky and dreamy. They often leave moments of space to add more emphasis to an especially potent line. It’s as if I’m flying away with them as they yearn for their lover and sing “you’re the only one for me.”
fika knows that loving is hardly easy but when they have the “only one I know how to love,” they’re more than capable of maintaining it. It’s sweet and follows through on the positive mindset they’re taking towards this approach of distance. Even though they can’t always catch that flight, at the end of the day hearts intertwined know where they lie.
From fika
The song is written about Sam’s (singer) long distance relationship with his girlfriend. She lives & works in Africa for 3/4 of the year. The first lyrics written were the chorus “girl you know I miss you so much” and everything else stemmed from there. In a session with Jafunk & our good friend, Dave Nicholas, from uni. We were trying out some ideas, and Dave just started playing the keys part you hear at the start of the track. From there, Jafunk built the groove, and the hook came shortly after. We had a rough skeleton of the song within about 20 minutes.” – fika for CentralSauce
More From fika
If you want to follow fika, you can follow them on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. Some of their previous joints you should check out include, “Make You Feel” and “Slow Down.”
More to Discover
Subscribe to the CentralSauce mailing list so you never miss out on the freshest sauce. Check out this continuously updated playlist of songs Tyler has added to our Discovery section! Each track or artist has been featured in our “Why We Like It” section, so be sure to check out the page here on the site.
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