There is a strange presence surrounding the songs on this album, a feeling of otherworldliness. A haunted echo that shivers in the audio as I listen to the songs. As if there are ghosts around me that are listening too. This is the third album from Friend Of A Friend, but the first I’ve heard. And I’m already captivated. Enchanted by this duo. Claire Molek and Jason Savsani have created a movement in ten parts, the songs grabbing and pulling and guiding between verse and chorus, melody and rhythm. Learning that this album was recorded in Illinois in the depths of a Victorian mansion just adds a weight to the spectral sonic premonitions that seem to reverberate as the music fills the air.
The songs create places and pull at memories, some that might not even belong to you. But they become yours. Songs that shift between a sort of New Waved goth folk and a supernatural nightclub electronica. Full of contradicting moods that here, are allowed to work together. Both warm and minimalistic, cold and lush.
The first track moves out in a ghostly Americana flow and groove, driving through dusk as Molek’s vocals curve and croon, sometimes touching upon a Kate Bush curl. “Anna” hits next, broken up melodics dancing between a Mirwais remix and a Snakefarm desert slide. This time the vocals cut and distort, sliding tough and seductive somewhere between Halou and The Kills. A strange area to find yourself in but sonically rewarding. Producer Jordan Lawler (M83), who was also involved with their sophomore album, FACILITIES, in 2024, helps create the layered atmospherics, but Molek and Savsani sell it.
Lyrical poetics whispered over melodic soft beats push “FTV” into a dark pop ballad that builds into a break beat explosion that catapults you into the next track. “gloria”, which floats down like a Portishead daydream that melts down into a rhythmic post-punk pulse that hits like a Budgie beat. The title track has a dark lounge swing, balanced with a cool pop beat, that Beth Gibbons vibe touching down on some kind of electrified dancefloor.
A cohesive album that takes you on a journey and lets you know when that journey is over with a well thought out and amazingly performed build up and delivery from beginning to end.
