New York musician Maia Friedman will release her new album, Goodbye Long Winter Shadow, on May 9 via Last Gang Records. The collection finds Friedman developing her own mythology, one that encompasses her work as a musician, as a childhood and current appreciator of California’s Sierra Nevada mountains, and as a mother. Her capacity to create chamber pop that transcends limiting labels in on full display as wraps each track in elaborate orchestrations and imitate emotional nuance. She has roots in pop-adjacent mechanisms, having spent time prior to the release of her 2022 debut, Under the New Light, honing her musical voice while playing as part of Dirty Projectors and Coco.
Today, she offers up her latest single, “New Flowers”, for our scrutiny, a track she initially wrote in her music room with just an Omnichord and is one of the most recognizably pop songs on the album. But the track soon grew and developed a far more elaborate personality, resulting in a tempest surrounded by woodwinds and strings which highlight the song’s intricate and mesmerizing contours.
“[‘New Flowers’] is about love lost, and the inevitable process of losing oneself and finding oneself agains,” she explains. “I enlisted my dear friend Hannah Cohen to sing harmonies, and the closing guitarmony solo was dueled out by Maddy Baltor and I, side by side. It was joyful to say the least. We knew this one needed drums so we called in the legendary Kenny Wollesen and he got it on the first take. I love how Oliver Hill interpreted my demo into this beautiful arrangement for woodwinds and strings.“
Ryan Faist directed the accompanying video, which contains various bits of studio footage taken during the recording of Goodbye Long Winter Shadow.
Watch the clip below and check out some of her upcoming tour dates.
Tour Dates:
Wed. March 19 – Boston, MA @ City Winery*
Thu. March 20 – New York, NY @ Joe’s Pub*
Fri. March 21 – Washington, DC @ Pearl Street Warehouse*
Wed. April 2 – Chicago, IL @ Old Town School of Folk Music*
Thu. April 3 – Madison, WI @ Majestic Theatre*
Fri. April 4 – Minneapolis, MN @ Cedar Cultural Center*
Sat. April 5 – Milwaukee, WI @ Vivarium*
Wed. April 30 – Vancouver, BC @ Hollywood Theatre*
Fri. May 2 – Seattle, WA @ Triple Door*
Sat. May 3 – Portland, OR @ Mission Theater*
Mon. May 5 – San Francisco, CA @ The Chapel*
Wed. May 7 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Masonic Lodge at Hollywood Forever*
*supporting Basia Bulat
Goodbye Long Winter Shadow:
1.Happy
2. New Flowers
3. In A Dream It Could Happen
4. Iapetus Crater
5. Russian Blue
6. Suppersup
7. A Long Straight Path
8. On Passing
9. Foggy
10. Vessel
11. A Heavenly Body
12. Open Book
12. Soft Pall Soft Hue
13. Shape Is Your Own
14. Witness
Goodbye Long Winter Shadow is due out May 9 via Last Gang Records. You can pre-order the album here. Follow her on Facebook, X, and Instagram.
