Brighton-based indie artist Fierce Friend returns with “Blood Red Hills,” the first single from the forthcoming album Blood Red Hills & The Uncanny Valley.

Fierce Friend, the solo project of Brighton musician Alan Grice, blends playful sophistication with razor-sharp songwriting and an indie-rock core beneath shimmering electronic textures.

“Blood Red Hills” is a high-energy indie anthem built on the jagged, choppy guitar chords of Field Music, the kind of fuzzed-out bass sound DIIV would be proud of, and a woozy, seasick riff that might have wandered off a My Bloody Valentine record. Electronic sparkle, a key change that has no right to work — but somehow does — and a euphoric blizzard of a playout sit above a darker story of love and trust slowly eroded by time.

Grice is a longstanding figure in Brighton’s art-pop underground, contributing to cult favourites Electric Soft Parade, Foxes! and Octopuses. With Fierce Friend, he distils those experiences into a sound that’s sleek and unmistakable — blending bright melodic hooks with rhythmic precision while exploring the heartbreaks, hauntings and strange hopes of lost heroes.

Fierce Friend’s debut album Lies That Comfort You (Chord Orchard, 2018) earned spins on BBC Radio 6 Music, with Stuart Maconie praising it as “a great sophisti-pop record.” The sophistication remains, but the new material is leaner, more direct and wired with restless, propulsive energy.

“Blood Red Hills” introduces the world of the forthcoming album Blood Red Hills & The Uncanny Valley, due October 2026.