Written by Lizzy Killian

October is an odd, transitional month. Cold mornings give way to scalding afternoons, an endless loop of taking off your jacket just to put it back on.

On July 1st, 2026, New Orleans based artist Adam Richard released “Animal Fear,” his first project since 2020. The album’s production is sparse: a lo-fi hiss is present within each track that serves as an instrument in its own right, setting the scene for Adam’s wistful lyrics and gentle acoustic guitar.

Animal Fear is an album of remembrances and departures, of leaving an old life behind, unsure of what’s next to come. This theme is felt most strongly on the track “Halfway,” where Adam muses “Halfway a feeling/Halfway a pain//I am a formless heat.”

Adam’s lyrics are frequently abstract, which gives these songs a timeless universality, the sense that they have existed for decades, waiting for us to discover them. Musings about lovers, mothers, and brothers, refracted through unfiltered recollections.

Standouts on the album for me include the third track “Big Safe River,” a look back on a relationship with someone as memorable as they are absent (Three years ago, I fell in love/With a lover above, but somehow below), and ninth track “Steppin,” which ends with the sucker-punch of a line “You are what I wanted/But, I do not want what I needed/When I was caged.”

Animal Fear is the perfect album for this coming fall, just right for a meditative walk around the neighborhood, or a stint in the rocking chair on the porch. As the seasons change right in front of our eyes, Adam Richard invites us to think about our own bygones, with no rush to determine where we’re meant to go from here. For now, the existence of the memory itself is enough.

You can listen to Animal Fear out now.