New York–based singer-songwriter Theo Kandel officially releases his highly anticipated sophomore full-length album, A Horse Named Friday, out now via Nettwerk Music Group. Crafted in the wake of profound personal grief and life shifts, the collection stands as Kandel's most ambitious, introspective, and sonically expansive body of work to date.
Where his acclaimed 2024 debut LP, Eating & Drinking & Being in Love, celebrated life's quiet, subtle, and often uncelebrated moments, A Horse Named Friday fearlessly widens the lens to explore life's extremes. Written following the sudden loss of two close childhood friends within a single year, Kandel translates complex emotional juxtapositions, grief, joy, anger, anxiety, and humor into a cohesive narrative hero's journey.
"I realised much of this new album was either informed by the really low lows or the really high highs of life," Kandel reflects. "But happiness, sadness, anger, anxiety – all of these emotions are ultimately fleeting. It's a comforting thing to understand you're always moving forward, even if it doesn't feel like it. By sharing my own journey, I believe I was able to do right by my friends who are no longer here." LISTEN & SHARE: THEO KANDEL – A HORSE NAMED FRIDAY https://theokandel.ffm.to/ahorsenamedfriday
Recorded throughout 2025 across Grand Street Recording in Brooklyn and Kandel's bedroom setup, A Horse Named Friday weaves together fingerstyle acoustic guitar, banjo, pedal steel, sweeping strings, and warm 1970s-inspired piano arrangements.
The album features previously released singles "The Station," a buoyant, Simon & Garfunkel-inspired track capturing the chaos and fun of a night out with friends, the gentle finger-picked "Mourning Dove", and lead herald track "Right This Time." Additional key tracks include "About Dreams," a dreamy 70s-style duet with songstress Jackie Evans confronting modern existential burnout, the tongue-in-cheek fictional narrative "7–10 Split", and the soaring falsetto-driven "Ghost Lives." Title track and opener "A Horse Named Friday" grounds the project in timeless folk tradition, drawing on the classic motif of stepping into the river and returning from a quest forever changed.
A Horse Named Friday is available now on all streaming platforms.
A HORSE NAMED FRIDAY TRACKLISTING: A Horse Named Friday She's Mad, She's Magic Right This Time 7-10 Split The Station Ghost Lives Mourning Dove A Little Weird (A Little High) About Dreams Whisper Music Sadness Is A Sine Wave