Tue. Feb 11th, 2025

Renowned For Sound

For the latest music reviews and interviews

Single Review: The Fratellis – ‘She’s Not Gone Yet But She’s Leaving’

2 min read

The Fratellis.  The rag tag bunch of musical menaces named after the bad guys in The Goonies are back after a 5 year hiatus.  Known best for hits like Chelsea Dagger and Henrietta, they’ve moved with the times and updated their very noughties based sound.

The Fratellis Shes Not Gone Yet But She's LeavingHowever, new single She’s Not Gone Yet But She’s Leaving is still somehow familiar.  The reason being is because it sounds quite similar to the new stuff from the Arctic Monkeys to be honest.  It’s not a bad song by any means, it features a great guitar solo and a nice chorus, but would have sounded much better if The Arctic’s hadn’t released their new album first.

And that’s what seems to be the problem with The Fratellis, some of the singles they release seem to sound a lot like other bands.  Back in the day they released Whistle For The Choir drawing heavy comparisons with The Libertines, and now on this new single, singer Jon Fratelli even sounds like Alex Turner, The Arctic Monkeys lead man.

The thing is they don’t need to do this because they have other original songs on their new album which stand up on their own; the chameleon-esqe nature of the band just isn’t needed.

The song glitters in places however.  There’s a hint of trumpet followed by a nice syncing of Hammond organ and fuzzy guitar which is an instrumental highlight on the track.   Sitting nicely midway through the tune, it shows the band know how to combine instruments for a catchy sound.

Overall it’s a fair track but it’s just been released at the wrong time.  The band have much more to offer and can be expert song writers, they are strongest when they are being themselves and need to show this more often.