New music: Friendly Fires – Why Don't You Answer? - The Guardian (blog)

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Friendly Fires have ventured under the covers for a new track – their contribution to the volume of Late Night Tales they have curated. Why Don't You Answer? was originally recorded by the German composer Eberhard Schoener and Sting, for Schoener's 1981 album Flashback. You might fear for the worst when you learn that Schoener's stated mission is thus: "My message is the music. The goal of my life is to create an original form of contemporary music in which the opera, jazz, ethnical and electronic music melt together. I believe in emotionality." Fear not. Why Don't You Answer? may not be much of a song – it's more of a phrase – but it's a lovely, pulsating piece of electronica: Friendly Fires downplay the krautrockiness of the original, but only a little, upping the propulsiveness. And, of course, they have the great advantage of not being Sting. They've made a video to go with it – and what you're seeing here is a premiere.