Friko's Sophomore Album 'Something Worth Waiting For'

Friko drops its second album, “Something Worth Waiting For,” Friday, with a sold-out Saturday night headlining show at Metro, 3730 N. Clark St. in Wrigleyville, already locked in.

Nine songs. That’s what the Chicago indie rock quartet distilled from 15 road-tested demos. The result swings between scrappy guitar rock and lush chamber pop, capturing the particular chaos of being young and unmoored, and it’s a sharper, more assured record than most bands manage this early.

The foundation goes back to Evanston Township High School, where singer-guitarist Niko Kapetan and drummer Bailey Minzenberger first played together as classmates. Their 2024 debut, “Where We’ve Been, Where We Go From Here,” drew serious international attention on the strength of that chemistry alone. Since that release, Friko grew into a four-piece, bringing in bassist David Fuller and guitarist Korgan Robb, and the band spent the better part of a year touring behind the debut, writing as they went.

Minzenberger’s been clear about what that time on the road meant for the new material. “Once you play songs live and you get to spend enough time with them, they really start to take shape, they can start to sit in your body a little bit more,” Minzenberger said. “They’re less conceptual at that point. They start to have a life of their own.”

That’s not just talk. You can hear it.

The album was tracked in two weeks with producer John Congleton, who steered those 15 demos down to nine keepers under a hard deadline. Robb said Congleton walked in with a particular attitude about studio time and pressure. “He said at the very beginning, ‘Every record somehow magically finishes in time,’” Robb said. “We knew that if we were wasting time, he would let us know.”

Fuller wasn’t shy about what the process demanded. “We put our all into this record, all four of us,” he told Block Club Chicago.

Kapetan noted that having two new members changed how the writing felt this time around. “The big difference was having David and Korgan along, having new members, writing new parts, and that was exciting,” he said.

Critics have drawn comparisons to Sufjan Stevens and Arcade Fire, and the new album doesn’t fight those labels so much as earn them through genuine emotional range. One of the standout tracks is “Choo Choo,” a song written from the vantage point of someone who’s been on the road long enough to genuinely miss the routine of boarding the CTA Red Line and knowing exactly where it’s going. The track stops and starts before breaking into a tambourine-driven groove, and Kapetan sings “Wish I took the train today, wish I took it almost every day” with the kind of exhaustion that doesn’t feel performed.

The hook wasn’t labored over.

“I just started singing ‘choo choo’ as a hook and thought that was funny,” Kapetan said. “But it felt right, and then we just leaned into it.”

The album doesn’t settle into a single mode. “Still Around” hits like a tight power-pop punch, brief and direct. “Certainty” goes somewhere else entirely, a chamber pop ballad built around string arrangements by Jherek Bischoff, formerly of art-rock outfit Xiu Xiu, where Kapetan’s voice stretches and breaks over swells while he sings about an emotionally charged reunion at a lake up north.

That range, from tambourine grooves to string arrangements, from yelping guitar rock to quiet devastation, is what separates “Something Worth Waiting For” from a lot of 2026 indie releases that pick a lane and stay in it. Friko don’t stay anywhere too long. They’re more interested in what happens when you let the songs lead.

The band plays Metro Saturday night. Show’s sold out.