But we decide which is right
And which is an illusion
– from “Late Lament” by Graeme Edge

Friends existed entirely within the imagination of Monica Geller. An overweight child, bullied and isolated, Monica sought refuge in her cramped room in the back of an Arkansas double-wide where she blocked out the tragic sounds of her mother’s meth-fueled ravings by inventing a life in which she was the nexus of five wacky but incredibly good-looking friends who lived in an apartment where the toilet paper roll magically replaced itself without human intervention. Her obese body became one that violated all laws of nature by being plus-sized in one place and petite everywhere else. She eventually gave up her fantasy after being married off to her second cousin, a man who cheated on her both before and after being sent to prison for his role in a convenience store robbery.

The internet spawned an entire industry based on imaginary friends, and Mark Zuckerberg cashed in like a blue-haired old lady hitting the jackpot with a single pull on the handle of a clattering Las Vegas slot machine. Among my imaginary friends I count Matteo “Manga” Manganelli, bassist/guitarist/vocalist with Luck,Now. I’ve corresponded with him several times, interviewed him via email, written glowingly about his bands, but have never spoken with him or met him and wouldn’t recognize him if I tripped over him on a fog-shrouded sidewalk of Mantova, Italy.

In “Imaginary Friends,” Manga and his mates explore the triangle defined by the singer, his romantic interest, and the rest of the world. Is the “imaginary” entity the singer’s object of desire – or object of creepy stalking – or does the title refer to the “friends” who keep urging him to forget about it? That’s probably 10x more intellectualism than the track requires. We’re talking about a three-minutes-thirty-seven pop song here, not Faulkner’s The Sound and the Fury.

“Imaginary Friends” was released as a single a few months ago, but I just found out about it (wtf, Manga, I thought we were friends!). It also appears on Enough For Now, a six-song collection that Luck,Now considers a demo (“Demo = poorly mixed and not mastered yet”). I dunno about that; it sounds great to me. I’d be happy to accept this version as a finished product.

We previously featured Luck,Now’s EP, Just Another Lucky Start, back in 2015. Manga described the philosophy behind the offering as “melody + short songs + play it loud!”

Before that, we featured Manga’s former band, What,Really? which I cleverly characterized as “what Dookie might have become if Green Day didn’t take itself so damn seriously.”

Luck,Now self-describes as “a sort of loud Poppy rock band… always playin’ the same old way, tryin’ to make our version of ‘pop’ with short songs, catchy melodies, saturated guitars and a dumb synth. Everything is proudly self-produced in a cave.” Sounds good to me!

You can support deserving independent bands like Luck,Now by visiting their Bandcamp page, listening to their songs, and downloading your favorite tracks. And be sure to become imaginary friends with Luck,Now on Facebook!