Earning pride for her hometown of Brooklyn, everybody’s favorite new alt-pop girlie frau is setting the scene for a captivating introduction with “truth”, the second single from the forthcoming debut album flutter out September 10.
This introduction hints at the shimmering, unguarded nature of the debut, led by feeling and cultivated with glowing synths, complex vocal effects, and floating melodies, “truth” explores desiring to light up the life of someone you love. The central image – a moth drawn toward a lamp – was born from a magical moment while frau was tracking vocals, creating a metaphor that weaves itself through the themes of flutter.
While the track feels light and breezy, like an effortless Summer track, it also marked a creative breakthrough for her. Known for avoiding overly romanticized lyrics, those self-imposed boundaries fell away, revealing an uncomfortable but welcome “truth”. Rather than overthinking, she followed the melody to find where it wanted to go, which would shape the sonic landscape of flutter over the next three months as she partned with producer brand0 to bring life to her vision alongside collaborators including Michael Deano.
Ahead of the album’s release, Melodic Magazine spoke with frau about the unexpected inspiration behind “truth,” the collaborative process that shaped flutter, and what she’s most excited to bring to the live stage.
You don’t typically write about romantic relationships. What made “truth” different?
“With ‘truth’, I wrote it before writing the rest of the album. That was a slightly different writing process that caught me by surprise in the best way. I just decided to let it happen…the top-line and lyrics came to me before I could think too much about it. I don’t usually write about my romantic relationships because I know there are enough pop songs about that so this was a first for me.
If anything, this track affirmed me to let go of my tendency to restrict myself from writing about romance. Let the words flow, let the melody come, feel it and float with it, then come back to make it better later—a method I decided to let loose when writing the rest of the album.”
Your debut album touches on a wide range of sounds. Was that intentional from the beginning?
“I didn’t intend to make an album. I hadn’t really given it much thought until brand0 and I started working together. We had a crazy middle-heavy Venn diagram overlap of influences. That set the tone, our sessions synergistic and energized.
We threw everything at the wall. He would work on something I started, I would work on something he started. We traded a lot of ideas, constantly sent each other new music, a little something we had been working on, always in flow state even when in different rooms. We wrote most of this album in a span of three months.”
The image of a moth drawn to light became central to “truth.” How did that idea emerge?
“Michael took the lead on production for this track. I came home one day to hear him working on the instrumental and I loved it so much. After hearing it one time through, I heard the melody in my head and that night we tracked a scratch top-line.
The next evening I noticed a moth in our kitchen fluttering into a light in our kitchen and that helped push the vision for lyrics forward for me. The following day, the words and melody were set in stone and ‘truth’ was born.”
You’re currently preparing these songs for live performance. What excites you most about bringing them to the stage?
“Being able to share this music in a different format. It’s always special to get to perform live and get into it with an audience. It is especially meaningful getting to prep and figure it all out with the same person who made the album with me.”
With flutter, frau isn’t introducing herself through a single sound as much as a creative philosophy. The album follows instinct wherever it leads, whether that’s toward towering synth-pop, intimate confessionals, or moments of complete stillness. On “truth,” that philosophy results in one of her most compelling songs yet: a luminous reminder that sometimes the strongest artistic statements happen when you stop overthinking and simply follow the light.
Okay, rapid fire to close us out… three songs or albums that you feel influenced your upcoming album?
“[…The albums] SPEAK FOR YOURSELF by Imogen Heap, PANG by Caroline Polachek, and 7G by AG Cook.”
What’s on repeat for you right now?
“I have been revisiting Ellie Goulding’s Halcyon album lately, the melodies are good for my soul […] This past week? The new Porches album is getting to me… Tears in the park, tears on the train, tears on my roof while the sun sets. Introspective lyricism intersects with modern observation. Everything about it is vulnerable down to the tape hiss, his mouth right up on the mic.“
What do you want Melodic readers to know about frau?
“When I was little I used to have a stuffed frog collection – I told someone this recently and they looked at me like I had three heads and collected real taxidermied frogs as a child, I’m talking about stuffed animals – and when I “grew up”, I got rid of all my little stuffed frogs. Honestly… I miss them.”
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