FRIEND OF A FRIEND UNVEIL THEIR MOST AMBITIOUS WORK YET WITH ‘DESIRE!’—A HAUNTING, EXPANSIVE JOURNEY THROUGH SOUND AND SPIRIT

originally published here: https://distractedmag.com/2025/04/25/friend-of-a-friend-unveil-their-most-ambitious-work-yet-with-desire-a-haunting-expansive-journey-through-sound-and-spirit/

American duo Friend of a Friend (Claire Molek, Jason Savsani) return with their third studio album, Desire!, an immersive sonic experience produced by Jordan Lawler of M83. Recorded in a Victorian mansion tucked deep in rural Illinois—rumored to be one of the most haunted places in America—the album pulses with an energy that feels both otherworldly and deeply human.

Lawler’s production bridges analog warmth and electronic precision, blending shimmering synth pads with richly tactile rhythms to create a soundscape that’s as grounded as it is expansive. Desire!drifts in the charged space between tension and beauty, offering a multi-sensory experience that begs for spatial audio headphones to truly appreciate its depth.

One of the album’s standout tracks, “Oasis,” drives forward with a propulsive rhythm and layers of ethereal synth beneath Molek’s haunting, almost spectral vocals. It’s a track that wraps around you slowly, pulling you into its hypnotic pulse.

Another highlight, “FTV,” is a chill-inducing piece that marries reverberating vocal textures with a haunting, meditative beauty. The song moves like a presence in the dark—shifting in depth and atmosphere—evoking the eerie solitude of being alone in the woods at night. That sensation becomes even more resonant once you learn about the album’s ghostly recording location.

Then there’s “Hh2,” a mind-bending journey that opens with what sounds like a warped music box playing backwards—a surreal, Lynchian motif that crescendos into a psychedelic rock explosion. The track builds and builds into a wall of sound so massive it almost seems to collapse under its own weight, only to cut out in a moment that’s as startling as it is satisfying. It’s the kind of song that lingers long after the final note fades.

Desire! is a bold and beautifully unsettling record—one that layers global influences, haunting ambiance, and deep electronic textures into something that feels at once primal and futuristic. It’s no surprise, then, that Rolling Stone named Friend of a Friend an Artist to Watch, Mesmerized called them an “American Visionary Duo,” and Each Measure hailed them as “the next huge thing in indie rock.”