Posted: by The Alt Editing Staff
Photo by Mamie Heldman
Most of Avery Friedman’s debut album New Thing is unassuming. Not in the sense that Friedman’s musi is boring or that her songwriting voice is unremarkable, but in that it occupies a low-key, raw space somewhere between ambient and indie folk. Skullcrusher’s a good reference point, say, for her debut single “Flowers Fell,” and Friedman’s voice often recalls Al Menne of Great Grandpa. It’s easy, for that reason, to think this is the only mode Friedman could operate in.
Oh, but you’d be wrong.
We’re excited to bring you her new single “Photo Booth,” which will hit DSPs tomorrow and which represents a bit of a shift for Friedman. It’s a more electronic, chirpier sound, her take on alt-pop. It’s still sparse and whispery, but there’s some energy beneath her voice, and the hook is sneakily catchy. It’s a great song. Of “Photo Booth,” Friedman shares
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. This song really came into itself when we decentered my guitar, and surrendered to the more chaotic, pop-adjacent production it was asking for.
Listen to “Photo Booth” below.
New Thing is out April 18th.
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Zac Djamoos | @gr8whitebison
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