Blooming from within the Philadelphia DIY scene, Highnoon began as the solo indie-rock project of songwriter, Kennedy Freeman. It has since evolved into a four piece effort joined by Justin Roth, Nathan Avila, and Brendan Simpson. Drawing inspiration from dream pop and alternative rock, the band effortlessly conjures a soft summer dreamscape out of bitter cold internal winters. Freeman’s warm vocals guide us through hazy guitars, with self-reflective lyrics that are relatable and heartfelt. 

The band’s first record, Semi Sweet, was written over the course of a difficult period for Freeman, who had withdrawn from university. Taking time to focus on personal healing after a break up and building mental health concerns, Freeman returned for their senior year in 2018 and was finally able to reflect on their experiences through writing. 

Taking encouragement from Roth, Freeman kept working on demos and processing emotions through a series of ruminative songwriting studies. The duo spent close to a year sending demos back and forth to workshop them, until they felt ready to make the album. Recorded and produced by Freeman and Roth in an eerie West Philly warehouse with no windows, Semi Sweet carries with it an intimate sincerity that could only have been achieved through the hard work of close friends. 

The result is a record that is as introspective as it is begging to be heard live. The band cleverly tucks away feelings of disillusioning heartbreak and the pain of coming of age. It’s a dreamy feel-good indie rock record reminiscent of early 2000’s teen movies, but smarter—a blissful aching that radiates like the heat off summer asphalt, with the glow and nostalgia of peak golden hour. 

“I’m awake but I’m drifting in dreams. And I just don’t want it to end. ‘Cus I still see you through a rose-tinted lens,” Freeman sings on “Lens.” The lyrics in the band’s most popular song are reflected throughout the album as a whole—perfectly capturing the rosy retrospection of young romance and the hindsight bias of heartbreak.

Having experienced the culture around the local indie-rock crowd, Freeman felt a slight bitterness about seeing the scene teeming with mediocre white guys with a lack of talent. “I can do that better than you.” Freeman admits to thinking. “It’s frustrating, once you get involved in it—once you get that confidence taking up space. It’s tough to see people uplifted strictly because they follow white beauty standards, and are considered cute, or a cool guy in a band. I don’t actually care about that stuff and that’s not what music is about for me.” 

Never one to want attention, Freeman spent much of their life shying away from anything resembling a performance, willfully choosing to be a stagehand for their high school musicals rather than auditioning for a role. Their approach to playing in a band takes a similar apprehensiveness to public perception of their work—even resorting to getting drunk to get through their stage-fright when they first started playing shows. 

“At first I was uncomfortable with the idea of putting myself out there.” Freeman says.  “But since we’ve become more of an actual band, it’s been easier to have some of the spotlight off myself and feel less exposed.”

Rooted in the safety of private self-expression, Freeman’s journey began at home—taking piano lessons from their neighbor, learning to harmonize from two musically gifted parents, and teaching themselves guitar during their sophomore year of college. Starting the project bridged a gap, allowing the self-proclaimed loner to enter into the local music ecosystem. 

While the Philly scene was inclusive and welcoming towards the band, Freeman quickly realized that there were not a lot of Black folks attending or performing. Alongside their shows in the basement circuit with the band, they were involved in the creation of a Black art collective, called The Bad Apple Commune. It was at these shows that Freeman was able to feel even more connected to their inner motivations and the purpose of creating and sharing art. 

Freeman (a virgo) has pragmatic goals for the band. When asked about what comes next, they said “My personal goals are just to keep liking music. I don’t ever want it to be a burden. I want to keep making music and exploring other genres and learning new skills.” 

Perhaps it is this air of calm that makes the band such an easy group to love… or perhaps their undeniable charm and talent. Having opened up for bands like Horse Jumper of Love, Harmony Woods, and The Obsessives within their first year of putting out a record, Highnoon has nothing but kinetic energy just waiting to lift them into becoming Philly’s next great band. 

Highnoon’s Semi Sweet will be released onto limited edition cassette via Oof Records on July 31, 2020. 10% of all tapes will go towards Vamos Juntos, a community-led, Latinx immigrant organization in South Philadelphia fighting for human rights as workers, parents, youth, and immigrants.