ALBUM REVIEW: Avery Friedman’s Debut Is A Bold, Instinctual ‘New Thing’

Avery Friedman had spent plenty of time around music, but she’d never written a song before 2023. With the encouragement of her musician friends, Friedman pursued her craft and now, in the spring of 2025, we have her debut album New Thing. This eight-song collection spans a wide array of sounds, showcasing an artist who trusts her instincts rather than strategic engagement with an audience. Luckily, her instincts are spot-on: New Thing may be soft-spoken, but it’s bold and unrestricted by self-consciousness.

The album begins with “Into,” a sinuous guitar line overlaid with barely-legible lyrics. Friedman creates a sound collage that seems to mimic her own tentative exploration into music — anxiety, naïveté, trepidation, and freedom. “New Thing” speaks to these changes, with Friedman rejecting the fears that used to hold her back. The song pulses, slowly but surely building to a catharsis.

It’s not just stage fright that’s held Friedman back, but the trauma of getting robbed while walking through Brooklyn was enough to shake Friedman out of her daily routine. She turned to music to help process her new fears and, in so doing, learned to shed them. “Flowers Fell” speaks to this transformation, a reminder that what may seem beautiful and delicate at first glance may in fact be hiding something much stronger.

New Thing truly transcends with “Finger Painting,” a sensuous and queer reading of an activity that may begin platonically. Friedman unfurls the scene with a playful purr that builds alongside the slow build of guitars and drums until the entire band releases. Friedman likens the cautious dance of romance to mixing colors in a painting and poses an irresistible question to the listener:

Now I’m finger painting
I’m letting myself trace it
And you’re looking up at me now
And you say you wanna taste it
Do you wanna taste it?

The undeniable queer joy unleashed in the song is intoxicating. But this is not Friedman’s achievement alone. She’s backed by a tight-knit group of Brooklyn musicians. James Chrisman (Sister), drummer Felix Walworth (Told Slant / Florist), Ryan Cox of Club Aqua and Malia DelaCruz of CIAO MALZ) work seamlessly to support Friedman’s vision, providing a structure for Friedman to play in.

New Thing is as much about community as it is Friedman’s individual journey. The album will thrill those who yearn for the days of sad indie bands in Williamsburg clubs. While Friedman and her band might be further along on the L train, they’ve moved past the detached melancholy of that cohort and instead utilize the same musical strains to confront and move beyond the pain that holds them back.

Avery Friedman’s New Thing is due out April 18, 2025 via Audio Antihero.