NONEWFRIENDS. releases debut EP, ‘Do You Still Think About Me?’

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At midnight on Friday, NONEWFRIENDS. released its debut EP, “Do You Still Think About Me?” Composed of five Syracuse University students — Elizabeth Stuart, Scott Greenblatt, Jackson Siporin, Peter Groppe and Jack Harrington — the band has been releasing music since December 2019.

With its new EP, NONEWFRIENDS. offers listeners a selection of songs representative of the band’s creative direction. “Do You Still Think About Me?” includes five tracks that range from 2:11 to 4:12 in length. “Not Your Girl,” “May” and “Jammer (they don’t get it)” were all released prior to the EP, giving listeners a sample of the sounds to come.

Influenced by funk and jazz music, “Do You Still Think About Me?” is a sonically savvy debut EP from NONEWFRIENDS. Harrington said the thematic focus of the EP is love and the feelings associated with the cycles of a relationship. Stuart provides lead vocals for the songs, creating an accompaniment for Siporin’s saxophone, which is a standout of the EP.

To accompany the release of their EP, NONEWFRIENDS. will be playing a show at Funk ‘n Waffles on Saturday. SU sophomore Lauren Juzang will appear as a special guest at the show.

Harrington, the bassist for the band, spoke with The Daily Orange following the EP’s release to discuss the group’s creative process, sources of inspiration and future plans.
Below is the transcript from The D.O.’s interview with Harrington, edited for brevity and clarity.

The Daily Orange:

How did you decide that it was time for NONEWFRIENDS. to release a debut EP?

Jack Harrington:

We wanted to put out an EP for a long time. In simple terms, it just felt like the right time. Even though some of the music we had already put out, most of that was strategic to lead up to the EP. And we felt it was the first time we had a good group of songs that represented us at one era. So we feel comfortable releasing it as a project.

The D.O.:

Where did the inspiration for this EP come from?

JH:

I mean, I can’t speak for everybody, so I’ll just say like, everybody’s influences really just kind of funneled into the sound that came out of the project. I know we all pull from very, very different places, so it was really just a combination of what we all have been listening to and what we were all listening to recently that kind of influenced the project.

The D.O.:

How long have you been working on the EP?

JH:

Probably about a year. For pretty much all the songs we had like, two or three sessions over the course of the year leading up to the EP. Like, from the time we finished the project, from when we started, it was about a year. We had three main recording sessions where we would just lock out in our house for like, two or three days and just record all the demos that we had in mind. Pretty much everything we recorded was in our house.

The D.O.:

Do you have a song that you feel you’re the most proud of?

JH:

There isn’t one song. I have, you know, songs that I’m proud of for different reasons. But I think if I were to pick one for a certain reason, I would say “Borderlines.” I feel like that’s the song that I couldn’t, more than anything else, hear any artists creating. It’s a creation that feels very unique to us. We kind of just let ourselves go crazy on that one.

The D.O.:

Were there any songs that didn’t make the cut?

JH:

We kind of knew that we wanted to keep it to like five songs. So we had probably like one or two songs that we cut off because we knew we wanted a set amount of songs. We wanted to keep the attention of the listener the whole time, and we felt like adding more to the project could possibly take away from that. So yeah, I think one or two songs (were cut).

The D.O.:

What do you hope listeners take away from this EP?

JH:

I hope that they feel what we felt when we were writing and creating music. A lot of the emotions that we felt (while) writing the songs also translated while we were recording. We felt those same emotions. And then also, kind of just having a better understanding of our identity as a band and what we’re trying to say and what we sound like.

The D.O.:

What are the band’s future plans looking like? Is there a potential for a full-length album coming up?

JH:

Yeah, I mean, definitely. Definitely a full-length album, sometime down the road on. I don’t know if there will be another EP before then. That’s definitely a goal of all of ours. We’ve just been creating music nonstop. So right now we’re kind of just trying to write, record, not really think about what we’re trying to do big picture, just kind of keep chugging along that way for a while. And then eventually, (we’ll) take a step back and look at how we want to approach releasing the songs.

The D.O.:

In one word, how would you describe the EP?

JH:

I would describe it similarly to the answer I gave for what we hope listeners take away from it. It kind of establishes our identity from that era of when we recorded everything. We’ll see if it changes, we’ll see if it doesn’t — probably will, most definitely probably will. A lot of the songs are about, you know, love and the different feelings that you have at different points of relationships. So kind of just reflections on relationships and love and the sounds we’re hearing in our brain when we go through that.