Here at the Send Me Your Ears studio today, we’re listening to Agent Envy’s latest single, No Friend, released on December 9, 2022.
Agent Envy is a San Diego-based artist and producer. She has been around music her whole life, having taken up voice, piano, and guitar lessons, as well as songwriting and musical theatre at a young age.
No Friend is a powerful rock song that says “Enough is enough” to certain situations in life.
Starting on drums and bass, the initial section of the song has an interesting distorted effect on the snare before Agent Envy’s low and sultry vocal joins the mix.
The full band comes powering in with driven crunching guitars and layered vocals. At this point, No Friend takes on a real female empowerment feel and Agent Envy’s voice belts out a passionate and powerful performance, backed up by some choice layered vocals.
Reminding us of several vocalists who impress us, Agent Envy has a great range in her vocals, as well as the tools to back up the different techniques as she progresses effortlessly through the song. Tori Amos sprung to mind for the quieter sections, whilst the more aggressive and powerful sections led us to draw comparisons to Alanis Morissette, Meredith Brooks and Paula Cole. There is even a certain style in some of the licks that she uses that reminded us of the writing style of Coheed and Cambria.
No Friend makes great use of different sections to maintain the listeners’ interest, and the rise and fall, and occasional stops within the track make this an entertaining ride. The drumming is clear and precise and the addition in places of some 16-beat percussion just adds to the excitement. With a stinger ending and a brooding but fiery delivery, this is a track which oozes confidence and charisma.
Ideas from our ears
A small boost around 50Hz would bring out the thump of the kick drum a little more. A careful surgical cut around 140Hz would reduce a slightly ‘muddy’ tone in the snare. A cut centred around 900Hz would reduce some ‘honky’ tones too. A small shelf boost in the top 2 octaves would increase the brightness and presence in the track. As always, these are just some ideas from our ears.
Final thoughts
If you’ve been looking for the next angst-laden powerful female rock, then look no further. Agent Envy’s latest single, No Friend, will have you hitting “replay”. We guarantee it!