7/10

With their newest collection 'Only Children', Fictions firmly cements themselves as architects of immersive and emotionally resonant soundscapes. Following their understated DIY debut LP 'Sensory' in 2023, this sophomore album takes a bold step forward, evolving from lo-fi sketches into a meticulously crafted, multi-layered experience. Across nine tracks, the collaborative efforts of James Lees and Joshua MacGregor bring a cinematic depth, with contributions that feel both subtle and essential.

Recorded over 2023–2024 in a home studio by Jim Jones, 'Only Children' thrives in its intimacy. From the first piano chords of 'Spinning', it becomes clear that the record treats sound as texture, colour, and narrative combined. Piano, nylon-string guitars, atmospheric synths, and drones interact in a way that feels ethereal, each element added or reduced until a sense of place, mood, and movement emerges.

The centrepiece 'Murmuration', spread across three movements, exemplifies the album’s artistic ambition. Orchestral strings ripple alongside hypnotic piano motifs and sine-wave arpeggios, evoking the mesmerising motion of birds in coordinated flight. It is both a celebration of nature’s poetry and a meditation on human memory, and how moments repeat, reflect, and reform over time.

'Only Children' is an album that asks for patience and attentiveness, rewarding repeated engagement with shifting landscapes and nuanced symbolisms. It balances warmth and distance, intimacy and expansiveness, ultimately forming a circular narrative that feels simultaneously complete and open-ended. For those attuned to textured, contemplative music, Fictions have crafted a hauntingly beautiful work that leaves a lasting impact on the soul.