issue 28 - the birthday issue

celebrating our first birthday! thoughts on writing, a desert island duvet, With Love From, a quick Oscars recap and more

it’s FRESH’s first birthday on Monday the 20th! let’s make this one a bit of a celebration issue shall we.

first off, let’s cut some cake - take a slice for you and your neighbors, plenty to go round!

we’d like to thank each of you for being part of FRESH, for reading and supporting us. you’re a big part of the reason FRESH is still here and running - knowing it’s loved and appreciated by you as much as i do gives me the drive to show up every Sunday, regardless of how tired i am or how terrible of a mood i’m in.

when i started FRESH a year ago, i felt like i jumped into the deep end of the pool and got in way over my head. i felt imposter syndrome kicking in - what was i doing amongst all these other established and skilled writers at their craft? the more i wrote the more i felt comfortable and validated as a writer, proving to myself each issue that i indeed could put in the effort and produce work that i’m proud to have my name on as writer of.

earlier this week, i interviewed for a writer position at an established global publication - something i never thought i’d have under my belt, or even be considered for. though i won’t be pursuing that particular position going forward, just getting my foot in the door felt so surreal, and felt like hitting a major milestone in my writing journey that i didn’t know i needed.

another big thank you to all our GUESTFRESH collaborators and writers over the past year for putting their own spin on FRESH:

Ariane Anindita

- issue 03

Rachel Davidson - issue 11

Sophia Tan - issue 13

Thomas Plaatsman - GUESTFRESH: Cultural Reads

if you’re interested in writing your own GUESTFRESH, drop us an email at freshbywing@gmail.com, or a message on Instagram. writers new and established welcome!

if you’d like to send FRESH a birthday present this year, do consider upgrading your subscription to a paid one here, for the price of a coffee each month.

alternatively, grab your friends in on this and gift them a subscription to FRESH to share the love around!

also a small belated housekeeping update: daylight savings has once again been upon us, and our posting schedule has shifted an hour forward to 9am EST on Sundays! for all of you not in daylight savings countries (eg. Asia), timing remains the same as usual.

FRESH: new music

Mike (desert island duvet) - Fred again.., The Streets, Dermot Kennedy

this one has been a long time in the making! Mike (desert island duvet) is the honorary part two song to Berwyn (all that i got is you), off Fred Again’s latest album Actual Life 3. during the writing process, Berwyn originally had more verses and more lyrics, which weren’t used in the final song, and got saved to be vocally reimagined by iconic British vocalist Mike Skinner of The Streets for this version! the result is a more upbeat, soul-healing continuation to the heavy emotional weight of Berwyn, and makes for wonderfully satisfying listening back to back. Mike quite deserves a track 5.5 spot in Actual Life 3’s track list, right between Berwyn and Bleu (better with time) - if anyone’s already made or come across an edited track list version, please do link it in the comments!

• in other Fred Again.. news, his first collaboration track with Skrillex and Four Tet (aka Pangbourne House Mafia), Baby Again, is finally out on all platforms! here’s a 1 hour loop of the track being played at Madison Square Garden last month, posted by Fred himself if you still can’t get this earworm out of your head.

• Phoenix have teamed up with Clairo for a lovely duet reimagining of their track After Midnight, taken off their latest album Alpha Zulu. lead vocalist Thomas Mars and Clairo’s voices unexpectedly complement each other so well, and the two-by-two lyric distribution between them both makes for a fun call-and-response take on the original.

With Love From - Aly & AJ

With Love From marks Aly & AJ’s third album of the decade, and perhaps the most refined, confident one in terms of its sound and direction. the ladies have had some time to experiment following their post-pandemic comeback and rebrand as an independent indie-folk-pop duo, and the results really show on this LP. the album is incredibly cohesive as a body of work both sonically and thematically, and hits its mark as a nostalgia-full yet hopeful, melancholy reminiscing of memories with a past lover, and contemplating the possibility of a future rekindling.

the album’s lead single With Love From is perhaps one of the duo’s best work to date; also don’t miss Open to Something and That Something Is You, Blue Dress and Talking in My Sleep.

(saving the full M83 album write-up for next issue!)

FRESH: live sets

• CRi is back with another fantastic mix for The Anjunadeep Edition, featuring a number of his latest releases, IDs, and the wonderful So Afraid by Amtrac and Alex Metric!

• here’s a juicy, new hard-hitting live ID from Madeon, taken from his latest DJ set at Atlanta’s District.

FRESH: film

Paul K. Barnes

and myself have been screaming quite vocally on our respective publications about EEAAO’s Oscar nominations - thankfully, we’re on the right timeline where it did end up winning most of its categories! (Stephanie Hsu deserved one for Joy for sure - her next nomination has to be a win now.)

everythingeverywheremovie

A post shared by Everything Everywhere (@everythingeverywheremovie)

---

thank you FRESHers for celebrating with us this issue! onto year two now, shall we?

With Love From,

wing

alright, over to you now - hit up the comments section, or reply to this email with your thoughts! if you enjoy a little prompting:

• what have been your favorite FRESH memories over the past year?

• got a favorite ‘part two’ track to a song to share?

• any post-Oscars thoughts?

head over to freshbywing.com to catch up on past issues of FRESH, and find us on instagram!