Pete “Fij” Fijalkowski concedes that he’s felt like an outsider for most of his 57 years.
“I’ve always quite liked the feeling of being on the periphery,” he says. “Whether it was growing up in England with an exotic Polish surname, with parents whose worldview looked out to European culture rather than having a British sensibility. Or whether it was listening to ‘weird’ alternative music that few people around me seemed to get when I was younger.”
Fij’s first significant run-in with “weird” alternative music came as the frontman for Adorable, Britpop/shoegaze underachievers whose 1993 Creation LP, Against Perfection, deserved better. In the 2000s, Fij formed Polak with his brother, Krzys. Then, after a lengthy break from music, he collaborated with House Of Love guitarist Terry Bickers for a pair of albums before turning to his own material. Coming July 10, Up’s The New Down (Tip Top), Fij’s first-ever solo album, has been a long time coming. For its latest single, “Don’t Bring Me Sunshine,” he ran with the “stranger in a foreign land” persona that fits him so well.
“It translated nicely into a song describing someone uneasy with all the trappings of love,” says Fij. “I wanted the music to capture the wind-rush of an open-top car. ‘Crash’ by the Primitives, ‘Drunk Girls’ by LCD Soundsystem … I love those euphoric songs that sound like they should be pumped up on a car stereo as you drive to who knows where.”
We’re proud to premiere Pete Fij’s “Don’t Bring Me Sunshine.”
—Hobart Rowland
