Friend CD

New York's James K refines her ghostly, intimate style with a third full-length that feels like the clearest articulation of her vision to date. Shifting between whispery dream-pop, spectral ambient textures and flickers of trip-hop, the record sketches emotional states in soft, translucent layers. Tracks like 'Open My Heart' and 'Stupid' showcase her fluttering vocal delivery, drifting somewhere between presence and memory. 'Deeprose' works in slow, distorted waves, while 'I Don't Know' melts guitar lines into padded synths and downcast drums. The production is tactile but restrained-every detail placed with intent. Long affiliated with scenes between New York and Berlin, K has always moved obliquely; here she leans into clarity without surrendering subtlety. It's deeply personal music that never demands attention, but earns it slowly and fully.