A Chat with Neil Friedlander (29.12.25)
Neil Friedlander is a New York-based singer-songwriter. He earned praise for his first two albums, Movements Into Language (2018) and Love Is a Ripple on a Lake (2020). He returns with a deeply personal indie-pop infused album, The Change. We chat with Neil Friedlander about all things music below.
OSR: You’ve described The Change as a sonic imprint of your years of transformation. What internal shift first signalled that a new chapter of your life, and your art, was beginning?
Friedlander: The day I released my last record – Love Is a Ripple on a Lake – was the day I wrote ‘Totem’, which became the first track on The Change. It was during Covid, I was feeling (as so many of us were) totally isolated, and, I don’t know why, perhaps releasing my second album, which was really drenched in the pain I was feeling but didn’t know how to address, I suddenly had a new perspective. It was much more curious and humorous, and it guided me into that next chapter.
OSR: How did embracing sobriety reshape your creative intuition and your relationship with songwriting?
Friedlander: Sobriety has been an interesting journey – challenging to say the least. I used to have a strong association between creativity and substances – “Drink wine, it will open your heart” – and weed. For a while, I had no idea if I could be creative sober. I didn’t know what that felt like. Over time, though, the gradual effect of embracing sobriety was, in simple terms, less of a willingness to hurt myself. And I think now, I write less from a place of pain, and more from a place of experimentation.
OSR: Your time in the acting conservatory and exposure to the Meisner technique fundamentally changed your artistic voice. How does that training show up in your vocal delivery or lyrical honesty on this album?
Friedlander: Lovely question, thank you. Lyrically, I believe it freed me up to just say things as I mean them, and to trust my gut around what I’m feeling. To speak my mind, in other words. As for the vocals, acting has taught me that you don’t need to push, and you don’t need to emphasize an emotion. Any line can be read any way. Just be with the natural experience of it.
OSR: You began writing songs at nine years old. Looking back through the lens of The Change, what aspects of that early creative self do you feel closest to now?
Friedlander: Little Neil loved songwriting for the pure creative freedom of it. He had a very rich inner life, and music was one of the tools he used to express it and excavate it. I feel that I am slowly coming back to that joy and playfulness, and that healthy relationship with myself that started my musical journey.
OSR: The writing process spanned a period of intense self-examination. Were there any songs that forced you to confront something you weren’t initially ready to face?
Friedlander: Yes. There’s a sequence of three songs on the album that contain a lot of emotional weight for me, and all were difficult to confront in their own way. ‘Distracted By My Phone’ is an examination of my addictive nature; ‘Future Life’ is a realization of heartbreak and release; and ‘Holy Smokes/ Let The Sun’ is a meditation on my childhood and an unlearning of some of the self-harming tendencies learned through a skewed education. More than any other songs on the album, those three were accompanied by more self-doubt and challenge.
OSR: Your previous albums were praised for their poetic intimacy. In what ways do you feel The Change expands or deepens the emotional territory you’ve explored before?
Friedlander: Thank you. I feel that The Change goes deeper into these territories. Becomes more specific. I’ve always wanted to write honestly, but I think my point of view was once more opaque, for different reasons. Now I am more aware of what I might be trying to hide from myself.
OSR: Your journaling, plays, observations, and reflections from the past few years fed into this record. How do you integrate non-musical writing into your musical process?
Friedlander: I feel that when creating a record, everything starts to inform it. I think it happens on its own. I was writing this play, Milo & Jude, and did not expect it to feed into the album at all, but suddenly, my characters were singing songs. One of them, ‘Committed’, made it onto the album. It’s very fun to just keep the door open and see what comes through.
OSR: Working with Chris Camilleri, who has collaborated with major artists like John Legend and Lennon Stella, how did his production sensibilities shape the atmospheric world of The Change?
Friedlander: Chris is an incredible producer. He’s sensitive, patient and extremely collaborative. We would have conversations about each track and the mood of the album in general, but the truth is that I turned the songs over to him and trusted the process. He always had excellent directions, and we’d go back and forth on small details to get things to the finish line. It’s very satisfying to see now that we created a soundscape and atmosphere that feels very coherent. It’s a credit to Chris and his consistency.
OSR: Nature, meditation, New York streets, and stillness all appear in the album’s DNA. What environment do you feel shaped the emotional heart of this record the most?
Friedlander: The ocean. Which is a little ironic since most of it was written in New York. But the sound of the waves and their rhythm permeate my mind often, and there is nowhere I feel greater peace.
OSR: If the person you were before this period of transformation met the version of you who made The Change, what conversation do you think the two of you would have?
Friedlander: I think they’d talk about having confidence and self-esteem, and letting go of other people’s expectations of you. And they’d talk about love, inevitably. Love is all, at the end of the day.
Many thanks to Neil Friedlander for speaking with us. Find out more about Neil Friedlander on his Instagram and Spotify
