Brooklyn alt-country songwriter Emily Frembgen just released a new single titled “Fentanyl” across all digital platforms. She has also announced her siging to NJ independent label Don Giovanni Records. The single arrives accompanied by a music video, directed by Clare O’Kane of Saturday Night Live, Shrill, The Best Show and SpongeBob SquarePants. It is O’Kane’s music video directorial debut.
“Fentanyl” is the lead single from Emily Frembgen’s forthcoming Don Giovanni debut album, to be released in 2024.
The song opens with the lyric “Two years of doing nothing makes everybody crazy,” and is a song about the kind of alienation that can render a person motionless and self-medicated, but it also has an infectious melody and catchy guitar licks. Written after a particularly frustrating bout of writer’s block, the song was recorded at Excello Studio in Greenpoint, Brooklyn with Hugh Pool. Emily laments the loss of who she was before the world shift of 2020 when it felt easier to connect with people.
Emily found her footing in the New York music scene largely by way of the comedy scene, producing comedy & music shows at the doughnut shop where she worked. This led to co-writing and performing the theme song to Kate Willett’s popular podcast “Reply Guys,” touring with Ben Kronberg (Last Comic Standing), and having Clare O’Kane (Saturday Night Live, Shrill, The Best Show) direct the music video for “Fentanyl.”
Frembgen also has become a mainstay of the Antifolk community that originated at the Sidewalk Cafe on the Lower East Side. There, she starred alongside Jason Trachtenburg (Trachtenburg Family Slideshow) in his musical Me & Lee. She often performs with Jeffrey Lewis, and was featured on Songs By Turner Cody: A Tribute Album alongside Adam Green, Diane Cluck, and Toby Goodshank. She also became a mainstay at Knitting Factory where she has ran a weekly Americana series for several years, at which she has performed with Wayne Hancock, John Craigie, Daniel Rodriguez, and Paisley Fields.
What do you think of “Fentanyl”?
