Finding the album ‘Wish’ by Freidrich$ is like stumbling upon a secret garden right in the middle of a noisy city. Some records go beyond the track-by-track format; they truly unfold as a single state of soul, a lingering aftertaste of desire that hums somewhere deep inside. ‘Wish’ turned out to be precisely that kind of revelation. Who is its author — a ghost from the musical ether, a sound alchemist working in the half-light of his studio?

In this case, identity recedes into the background, because the music speaks for itself. It wraps around you with a warm summer wind and carries you to a place where quiet laughter becomes melody, and love a slow, endlessly traveling comet. Freidrich$ creates at the crossroads of alternative R&B, hazy trip-hop, and dreamy indie pop, where deep, visceral bass lines blend with crystalline synth glimmers. His sound has a unique texture, both smooth and rich in detail. The music of Freidrich$ demands full immersion. It is meant to be breathed in, lived through, allowed to fill the space around you, becoming the soundtrack to your own memories and dreams. To those moments when you learn to remain after having longed to leave.

‘Wish’ surprised me in this regard, and from the very first track I realised a genuine revelation lay ahead. The album opens with ‘The Moviegoer,’ and instantly I recognised the aching, torn guitar from ‘I Could Have Lied’ by Red Hot Chili Peppers. Where Frusciante once offered raw, exposed pain, Freidrich$ casts a cinematic haze. Through reverb and a soft, enveloping beat, he transforms a cry of the soul into the soundtrack of a film you shoot in your own head, a film filled with half-tones and space for imagination.

Then ‘Starz’ takes the dream further, straight into open space. A sensation of flight emerges, as if you are gazing at constellations through the window of a spacecraft, where sounds float through cosmic silence in peaceful stillness. It is the state of a quiet observer, settled far away from earthly turbulence. And then ‘Embrace’ appears, intimate and fragile, a near-secret confession spoken only to you in an empty room, made even more precious by its delicacy.

The true magic of this album lies in how Freidrich$ reshapes borrowed material, turning it into something entirely his own. He reinterprets familiar melodies, breathing new life into them. In ‘Passenger Princess,’ the classic melancholy of indie rock dissolves into his signature sonic haze. In ‘Zodiacal Astrology,’ the effect is pure hypnotic trance, and it may be my favourite track on the record.

‘Courage’ tenderly cocoons the listener, rendering the song even more personal, sketching a story of one’s own private experience known only to oneself. And ‘Peep Tha Cosmos’ is my hidden treasure. To hear Erik Satie’s ‘Gymnopédie 1’ in a rap arrangement is bold enough, yet Freidrich$ makes the classic so warm and inviting it feels endless. ‘Peep Tha Cosmos’ erases every distance between artist and listener, and from that closeness comes a profound calm.

When the album falls silent, what remains is the aftertaste of a long journey through someone’s dream, woven from fragments of old cassettes, memories, and beloved melodies. ‘Wish’ is an utterly intimate and honest piece of work. In ‘Like Koushik,’ Freidrich$ reveals a softer, more ironic side, shifting the mood into tender sadness and quiet acceptance

In ‘What It Takes’ and ‘Perfect As U R,’ he dismantles the familiar tunes of Baby Bash and Timbaland down to their atoms. He leaves only the outline, filling it with his own brand of melancholy, transforming club bangers into soundtracks for solitary night walks through the city. He draws out the hidden vulnerability and quiet hope beneath the glossy surface.

This is music made for headphones and closed eyes. There are people you can sit with in silence and feel understood — Freidrich$ is that kind of musical companion. He builds a safe space where you can finally talk to yourself, hear your own inner voice. That is his greatest value.

I know for certain that ‘Wish’ will stay in my playlist for a long time. I keep looping it, and each time it reveals a new facet: suddenly I catch myself humming a line from a distant past, or I hear an echo of my own mood in a sample. If you are looking for music that takes your hand quietly and leads you along, give yourself this gift and listen. Freidrich$ creates worlds that endure, places where you can retreat from noise and distraction. Put on ‘Wish’ when you feel the need for silence. The kind within. ‘Wish’ helps you hear the right questions — the ones you ask yourself. It becomes your secret refuge, the place you return to simply to be yourself, in full harmony and inner quiet.

*This review was made possible by SubmitHub