New York City based musicians Abe the Kid and Kin River Works join forces to create Speak Friend, a collaborative effort that provides a profoundly intimate look into the possibility of music as a means of connection and world building. Their project ‘IAJAR’ uses cinematic production and spellbinding lyrics to create a musical experience of depth and intrigue.

Stream: ‘IAJAR’ – Speak Friend

Without uttering a single word, Speak Friend conveyed a triumphant storm of emotion, oscillating between heartbreak, solace, internal turmoil, and acceptance within the first few moments of “An Eye Opened,” the first track on the duo’s debut EP, IAJAR.

Serving as an intro to their combined musical practice, “An Eye Opened” is a testament to their musical storytelling abilities and establishes a sprawling and wide open auditory landscape for the listener to truly get lost in.

Speak Friend is composed of the two multifaceted lyricists and musicians, Abe The Kid and Kin River Works. IAJAR finds the duo narrating a journey into a world that feels simultaneously familiar yet completely strange, as genre is disregarded, fusing elements of folk, hip-hop, R&B, and seemingly the natural sounds of the forest to create a truly original and multifaceted project.

IAJAR EP - Speak Friend — IAJAR EP – Speak Friend

“An Eye Opened” transitions into the subsequent song, “Planting Flowers,” in a manner that mimics forward movement, setting the tone for the impending musical adventure through the progression of the project. “Planting Flowers” utilizes illustrative lyrics to create a widely accessible world, underscored by the melodic vocalizations of Kin and striking a chord in the most primal form of human communication.

The song hums with an aural beauty, but maintains a slight grit with the pervasive drum beat that further taps into a primal and bodily response to move. Unlike much of today’s popular music that elicits the desire for free form gyrating, “Planting Flowers” flowers oozes with smooth and purposeful forward motion, gracefully urging the listener to flow towards something with intent.

When you say goodbye I don’t know what to do
Every time we fight I get closer to you
Every time we cry we get closer to truth
Every time I lie I lose a moment with you
Left you confused
But I know you won’t switch sides on me
Gotta love it
Gotta tell me
When you ride on it
I know it’s getting back to you
Everything I do for you

The kind of love you get a little dirty for
The kind of love you leave
with plenty dirt up on your hands
Like planting flowers

As “Planting Flowers” and “An Eye Opened” probe and give shape to the physical world the project is situated in, “Denial” looks inward, creating moments of pause and contemplation in the rich and layered track which provides a glimpse into the internal struggles plaguing the duo. Manipulating tempo and cadence, temporality is exaggerated and stretched with overpowering swells and serene lulls, giving the song a circular shape, creating a haunting and inescapable trance as vocals and instrumentations pan and fade in and out with exhilarating mystery. Eventually, a climax is reached, landing the listener in the eye of a blistering and ferocious tempest; Abe delivers an earnest verse with desperate vigor as he seems to be surrounded by the ghosts he previously sought to escape. Yet as quickly as the chaos balloons, it gradually evaporates into a melodic outro that inversely mimics the song’s introduction, closing a loop and coming to terms with what perhaps the duo has been running from.

Following a cinematic arc, “Gone Are The Days” is a confrontation, as Abe and Kin dig their heels in to face down the specters of “Denial” who no longer hold any power over them. Underscored with a folksy guitar loop, the song has a western flavor that is reminiscent of a modern interpretation of showdown in a classic cowboy film. The speed and compounding energy of the song sways, as if intrepidly riding a horse into battle, throwing caution to the wind. Although on a literal level the subject matter of “Gone Are The Days” is rather somber, there is a vitality and relentless spirit in the melody and tone of the song which indicates a triumphant acceptance. Leaning into their present, Speak Friend details the past not with remorse or regret, but an eye for what’s to come. The song centers time and physical distance as a measure of progress. As the duo excavate the traumas they’ve previously overcome, it is clear they have yet to find the peace they covet but rather than dwell they persist.

“Gone Are The Days” closes with an ominous warning, “Don’t slow down,” and on the final track of the project, Speak Friend do just that and seemingly find “A Beautiful Place to Die.” The song serves as an emotional bookend to IAJAR, as the many questions and uncertainties posed in the beginning of the project seem to come to fruition. What began as sprawling and fraught with excitement becomes measured and contained, as the song’s production feels gentle and intimate. Abe’s verse has an extremely conversational dynamic in the retelling of a story that showcases a range of emotions serving as a baseline metaphor for the entire album, with both emotional spikes and contemplative valleys. Further, his voice has minimal effect on it, feeling as if his words are almost within reach and being spoken directly to you.

**The word that feels most resonant with the entire IAJAR project is “grounded.”**

The music, the lyrics, the atmosphere, and recurring themes woven throughout the songs explore an intrinsic connection to nature through the lens of sound.

On the surface, one would assume that a duo with the name of Speak Friend would be creating music in dialogue with one another, but I believe this project is a gestural call to the environments Abe and Kin find themselves in; IAJAR is the auditory manifestation of their communication with the surrounding world.

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