Avery Friedman steps into the spotlight with New Thing, a debut album that crackles with the light and dark of new experiences, passions and self-discovery. Out on April 18th via Audio Antihero, the record follows Friedman as she navigates uncertainty, growth and intimacy with an immersive and unfiltered touch. Led by the evocative single Flowers Fell, the album also features James Chrisman (Sister.) and Felix Walworth (Florist / Told Slant).
Friedman’s late arrival to songwriting is what makes New Thing sparkle with immediacy. Music was never the plan – until the spring of 2023, when a mix of inspirations and a traumatic mugging led to her first attempt at songwriting. The album is a collection of those very first compositions, born from the quiet anxieties of picking up a guitar to make sense of feelings she couldn’t yet decipher. Her first performance to someone other than herself came in an intimate moment around a post-show campfire after a Told Slant and Sister. gig, where she played Nervous, a song appropriately about her own fear of performing and the album’s delicate closing track. “I think it was disorienting, as an adult, to feel called to something that was so scary to me,” she reflects. Yet from that fear comes a record embracing self-discovery and transition, unfolding with tender melodies and a vivid blend of live-band warmth and synthetic-natural textures that echo the sounds of Brooklyn, Friedman’s home.
The album’s opener, ‘Into’, drifts in with reverb-soaked, sleepy guitars that gently guide us into the rippling pool of Friedman’s newfound catharsis. There’s a quiet, serene clarity and a feeling of being suspended somewhere, and that tension breaks as New Thing steps forward, pulsing like a breath of fresh air in an unfamiliar place we are led to roam. Guitars colour the track in all directions, and Friedman’s haunting vocals embrace the movement and energy of new beginnings. That sense of transition deepens with ‘Flowers Fell’, the album’s first single, which meditates on how our surroundings help us measure personal growth and transition. It’s serenely reflective and melodic, with guitars bursting gently as if mirroring Friedman’s own act of letting go and embracing change.
The new single ‘Photo Booth’ (my personal favourite) is a catchy and vibrant tune that ripples and purges with electronic textures against Friedman’s enchanting breathy vocal tones. “I wrote this song after a vibrant night out with my friends last winter – a night memorialized by many chaotic photo booth strips. Something about the novelty, containment and ephemerality of a photo booth just invites a sort of flirtatious mischief. This night out in particular felt like an encapsulation of spin-the-bottle-type ‘second adolescence’ that many queer people experience when coming into themselves after their adolescent years pass” Friedman shares. It’s a playful and comforting track that glows with this sense of belonging, and a chorus that’s a particular highlight.
‘Finger Painting’ is sweetly romantic, its textures unfolding like a slow dive into newfound passion before settling in the warm glow of new love. Friedman sways course again with ‘Somewhere to Go’, a track that shifts between ethereal acoustic intimacy and growing frustration, its dissonance and electronic textures echoing the uncertainty of searching for direction.
The album ends with ‘Nervous’, an enchanting track with layered harmonies and twinkly textures that close the record on a note of shyness, but also quiet resolve. It’s a sensitive and alive final emission of Friedman’s personal expansion.
“I’m swimming in the quiet now / And I got a little nervous”
New Thing is a charming and intimate debut, with Friedman leaning into self-discovery and change, embracing it through enchanting vocals and warm, immersive soundscapes. A deeply personal channel for processing life’s uncertainties, the album captures both the weight and wonder of new beginnings, offering a glimpse into an artist whose continued immersion in music is sure to bring more raw and deeply felt work.
New Thing is out on 18th April, released by Audio Antihero – pre-order now via Bandcamp on cassette or digital download here
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Review by Cerys Smith
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