8/10

For his second full-length 'New Entertainment', young friend turns away from frictionless digital perfection and towards something deliberately tactile. The songs were recorded live off the floor with his band, mistakes and all, allowing the record to breathe with the small imperfections, human reactions and spontaneous decisions that increasingly feel absent from algorithmically shaped culture.

Musically, 'New Entertainment' draws from classic rock, country, folk and scruffier early-2000s indie, with shades of Neil Young, The Band, Wilco and Pavement running through its loose, lived-in arrangements. Twangy guitars, warm band interplay and an unpolished sense of movement make the record feel nostalgic without becoming trapped in imitation.

Highlight 'The Yard' finds comfort in the familiarity of a neighbourhood bar, while 'Dad's Garage' turns sentimental clutter into a catalogue of memory, where an old Ford, a golf club and a pellet gun carry more emotional meaning than their practical value could ever explain.

Those songs reveal the album's central meaning. If the digital world keeps making everything more temporary, abstract and interchangeable, then the response is to hold tighter to what has weight: rooms, records, battered possessions, friendships, mistakes and shared time.

The stunning opener 'Hard Rock' takes aim at the spectacle and absurdity of internet culture, while 'Grand Canyon' questions how much faith we should place in what we see. Then the title-track pushes the idea furthest, imagining jobs disappearing and human-made art becoming increasingly precarious before asking what entertainment might look like when the systems surrounding it finally collapse.

By returning to live performance, physical musicianship and songs full of specific places and people, young friend makes his strongest point without needing to shout it. The future may be increasingly synthetic, but 'New Entertainment' sounds thrillingly, stubbornly human.