“Arendt / Adler / Pulley Pulley Pulley Pulley” is the second single from Toronto outfit, New Fries, in anticipation of their third album Is The Idea Of Us. The group is currently composed of Tim Nada, Anni Spadafora, and Jenny Gitman, all of whom picked up new instruments for this record. After Ryan Carley (synthesizer) left the group in 2018, the band was forced to reevaluate and form a more experimental approach. They would hesitate to even call themselves a band, but rather “a spirit of abandoning ideas of what songs should be”. With this open-mindedness, New Fries seem to approach music in a way that is fresh, weird, and welcome.
The immediate takeaway of “Arendt / Adler / Pulley Pulley Pulley Pulley” is the simple song structure, or lack thereof, before descending into entropy. This track is seductive and dark with Spadafora’s vocals echoing “I can not believe you became independent of those roles” and “remove the gender”, reviving the spirit of female-fronted no wave a la Au Pairs, Pylon, ESG, or Ut. In fact, their newest singles prove New Fries to be no wave from the future.
New Fries isn’t afraid to try new things with their music, incorporating the hollow sound of what seems to be woodblocks repeating on top of a funky bassline. They approach texture in a way that stays true to their influences, yet are able to create something entirely new. Listening to this track means listening to it deconstruct itself by the end as the droning, noisy guitar picks up and begins to take over.
This track is weird. It’s experimental, funky, arty, and despite how anxiety inducing it feels, you still want to dance. New Fries is the act to be paying attention to right now.
Listen to Is The Idea Of Us on July 20th when it releases on Telephone Explosion Records