Transformation, suffering, introspection, and death are what connect us to one another, even if living through it is what ultimately makes humans human. After the birth of her first child and her entrance into newfound motherhood, Maia Friedman illustrates the human experience that is self-discovery and growth, encompassing a full range of emotions that transcends age and time. Goodbye Long Winter Shadow, Friedman’s sophomore album, bridges the threshold from the hills of young adulthood to the plains of parenthood. It hones in on the tribulations of life and death through whimsical woodwinds, enveloping strings, and sage lyricism. Produced by Philip Weinrobe and Oliver Hill, whose CVs include Adrianne Lenker’s Bright Future and pop duo Magdalena Bay, respectively, we get a melodic thirty-one minutes and six seconds of bittersweet lyricism and intimate, touching ambience.
The album opens with an ephemeral plucking of strings that is met with Friedman’s inviting, warm vocals, coupled with an array of woodwinds that create an environment of whimsy, such that would only belong in a secret fairy wonderland in the first song off the album, “Happy”. Heeding through the instrumental, listeners get an almost haunting melody that evokes a feeling that is quite honestly difficult to pinpoint. The lingering atmosphere is so poignant, enveloping its tune in a shroud of sentiment–this sort of uncanny spine-chill that doesn’t necessarily come from fear but rather a soft, touching melancholy; it’s difficult to understand exactly why you feel the way you do while listening, which is an undeniably beautiful thing.
The subtle, haunting ambience, though ubiquitous, is especially prominent in Goodbye Long Winter Shadow’s ninth track, “Foggy”. Deterring from the use of a symphony, “Foggy” only uses one instrument: A children’s toy piano. Its notes are dispersed and slightly off tune and are coupled with the berceuse-esque humming of Friedman’s voice. It reminds me of an illustration from the 1986 children’s book by Robert Munsch, Love You Forever; this feeling of a mother worrying over her child, filled with both anxiety and tender elicits an incredibly complex yet equally sweet and pensive sadness within me which is precisely how “Foggy” makes me feel. It’s an arguably difficult emotion to evoke and Maia Friedman perfected it.
Goodbye Long Winter Shadow possesses a prominent maturity that wasn’t yet present in her 2022 debut solo album, Under the New Light. Especially prominent in the album’s second track, “In A Dream It Could Happen”, Friedman’s voice is reminiscent of a mother’s lullaby, a dominant theme throughout the album. Enter “A Long Straight Path”, a relatively experimental piece, which unearths the perspective of the singer’s daughter herself, the track consisting of childish babble accompanied by scattered and playful viola interludes that are composed to match the intonations of her daughter’s speech patterns. Different recordings of her daughter’s conversation begin to overlap as we notice recurring mentions of vitamins and Christmas trees. The basis of the lyrics’ meaning is entirely nonsensical, yet motherly love, care, and nurture radiates through its production apparently in its deliberate ambiance. Friedman’s ability to view the illogical, hum-drum rambling of a toddler as a point in her artistic invention never fails to amaze me. It highlights the idea of a mother’s love being like no other: Pure and heart-touching, tender and warm.
Maia Friedman writes mostly about her daughter and her evolution into motherhood in this album, but “On Passing” sees Friedman delve deeper into the more convoluted, difficult parts of life,handling her afflictions following the death of her two close friends. The use of acoustic guitar and fingerpicking is more prevalent in this piece,almost like an ode to the complexities of dealing with death and the grief that attaches itself. “On Passing” is a devastating song wrapped in a semblance of charm; its lyrics possess a beautiful sort of anguish: “As you drift along/you float on course to Eden/hoping the waves will take you/all the way to where you come from/Where we all come from.”
Goodbye Long Winter Shadow meticulously and seamlessly combines the aspects of both life and death while allowing its meanings to prevail in sensibility rather than writing. In similar fashion to her debut album, Under The New Light, her sophomore album acts as a time capsule;unfolding the emotional turmoil of experiencing newfound parenthood that co-exists with a hovering shadow of grief.