friends&: folx

Pitchfork

by Samuel Hyland

February 26, 2026

AI-Generated Deep Dive Summary

The album *folx* by friends& is an ambitious 112-track concept piece that explores complex themes like capitalism, autism, and corporate labor, blending hyperpop futurism with millennial optimism. Produced over nearly a decade and inspired by reading "Capitalist Realism" repeatedly, the album is a sprawling yet sonically coherent exploration of modern contradictions. Its sound is described as derpy plunderphonics, mixing glitched-out ruins with delirious glee, often using AI-generated vocals to simulate corporeality. While it aims to critique capitalist rot and reconcile socialist theory with pop production, its accelerationist tendencies create a sense of conflict, leaving its overall message somewhat muddled. Friends& is a collective of Canadian artists known for their "laptop twee" style, which reinterprets 2000s indie pop through modern production techniques. The

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Originally published on Pitchfork on 2/26/2026