Tune in on Thursday, April 14th @ 10AM to hear DJ Little Citrus speak with NYC songwriter, vocalist, and multi-instrumentalist, Maia Friedman.
Following a breadth of experience as a collaborator and multi-instrumentalist with Dirty Projectors and Coco, Friedman’s densely-textured pop debut album, Under The New Light, is wise and evokes what she wants it to: the sensuality of touch, feeling and image, a sonic form of empathy.
Friedman’s voice lends a unique quality of warm comfort that permeates all her collaborations, but Under The New Light presents her full intention. Her role is that of the wounded healer, one who has gained wisdom through darkness and grief. In her empathetic role, rather than share the details of any struggling, Friedman instead sought to build a cloud of safety for those who might have pain of their own. It’s an antidote to suffering rather than its depiction.
As with her other projects, Friedman collaborated closely on Under The New Light as a trio with Tom Deis (Pineapple Room Studio) and Peter Lalish, with Dan Molad in a production role. They worked on the album sporadically across the country, in Omaha, New York, and Los Angeles. Friedman had melodies but left it open, with the trio co-writing the swirling harmonies together. The arrangements are less sparse than they feel and even when Friedman’s voice is accompanied by a single guitar, there are swirls of ambience and synthesized sound design building around her.
Photo Credit: Kathryn Vetter Miller
