8/10

Theo Kandel has always had a knack for making ordinary moments feel worth examining, but 'A Horse Named Friday' finds him working on a broader and far more emotionally demanding canvas. Where his debut album was largely concerned with the quiet rituals of everyday life, this follow-up turns towards grief, upheaval and the strange elasticity of emotion, resulting in his most ambitious work so far.

Written after the loss of two close childhood friends, the album is understandably heavy in places, but he avoids turning that weight into something one-dimensional. Instead, he treats sadness, joy, anxiety and humour as passing states, allowing each song to occupy its own emotional space while contributing to a much larger arc about movement and survival.

Musically, that approach gives the record plenty of range. Fingerpicked acoustic guitar sits beside banjo, pedal steel, strings and warm piano arrangements, creating a sound that feels rooted in folk tradition but never trapped by it. There's a distinctly 70s softness to parts of the production, though his conversational writing keeps everything grounded firmly in the present.

Tracks such as ‘Mourning Dove’ and ‘Ghost Lives’ naturally carry more reflective weight, while ‘The Station’ brings a brighter sense of motion and companionship. ‘About Dreams’, featuring Jackie Evans, leans into a hazier, more expansive mood, while ‘7–10 Split’ shows that he hasn't lost the dry humour that has long been central to his songwriting.

But its the title-track that provides an effective entry point into the album as a whole. Drawing on the idea of returning changed after a long journey, ‘A Horse Named Friday’ frames the record as an acknowledgment that experience leaves permanent marks.

Measured, thoughtful and emotionally generous, 'A Horse Named Friday' is a significant step forward for him. Theo Kandel has taken deeply personal material and turned it into something expansive without losing intimacy, emerging with a record that understands moving forward doesn't necessarily mean leaving everything behind.