Having released "A Farewell" with two-tone harmonies, the L.A.-based indie-pop duo Freedom Fry has traded sunlit melodies for moonlit mystique, offering a classically beautiful track with a glacial feel. It's as if a song feels like you're walking through a dream that you're not prepared to wake from. Out May 28 on their label, Caveman Arts Society, the track marks a darker turn for the band as they continue to tease their forthcoming album, "Best Friend," set for release on June 25.
Etched around a haunting reworking of the classic folk melody Bubak and Hungaricus, "A Farewell" throbs with phantom grace. The song is based on a 19th-century poem of the same name, and the lyrics tackle the pain of saying goodbye, mortality, and the delicate strength of endings. It's a track that sounds both ancient and modern, folk bones wearing moody, art-pop skin. These otherworldly vibes are carefully and intentionally crafted by the genre-bending and melodically driven Freedom Fry. Their production choices are intimate and expansive, with atmospheric layers that unfold and dissipate like a fog creeping over a field. On drums, Darren Beckett, who has worked with Brandon Flowers and American Authors, adds a human touch, grounding the track's spectral qualities with a heartbeat that thumps beneath the surface.
There's a muted urgency here. The two of them don't yell their goodbyes, they whisper them, secrets too sacred to be told aloud. Each line is freighted with meaning, floating over a soundscape that could inhabit an elegiac indie drama.
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