AVA McCOY SHARES NEW SINGLE “MORE THAN A FRIEND” | DRAGONFLY OUT MAY 30
ACROPHASE RECORDS
Brooklyn-based indie folk singer-songwriter Ava McCoy recently announced her sophomore album, Dragonfly, set to release May 30 via Acrophase Records (Mali Velasquez, Ginger Root, Font) and Secretly Distribution. McCoy will celebrate the release with a show at Baby’s All Right in Brooklyn on June 8 with special guests mer marcum and After Ours.
Following previous singles “Young Girl” and “Dragonfly,” McCoy is sharing a third and final preview from the upcoming 8-track set today. “More Than A Friend,” the album’s jangly, driving anthem, sees McCoy reclaiming her autonomy after a year of feeling discarded. Of the song, she offers, “For much of my young adulthood, relationship dynamics have ruled my life (to a fault). ‘More Than A Friend’ paints memories of a Christmas I spent in the UK where I was able to reflect on a year being single, and the ways in which I compromised my needs for someone I once loved. I was a year out of a relationship that sucked up all of my energy, and I couldn’t accept that trying to be friends with this person wasn’t going to work out. I felt discarded, forgotten, and disappointed, but ultimately realized moving on was my greatest strength. To me, it’s a reclamation of the love I have for myself, and the agency to show appreciation for all that I am every day. I hear this song as an Alanis Morrissette-esque power anthem with some jangly guitar licks – it makes me wanna go on a long road trip with friends and roll all the windows down.”
Dragonfly is a coming-of-age record in the truest sense. The only member of her Oregon-rooted family to be raised in New York, McCoy found her voice in two places: the towering skyline of the city and the sprawling landscapes of the rural Pacific Northwest. She grew up surrounded by musicians, absorbing melodies from the backseat of her parents’ car: the likes of Roy Book Binder, John Prine, and Big Star. By the time she could speak, she was singing. By 11, she was writing songs, and by 16, she was sharing them onstage.
Recorded between Portland, Brooklyn, and Nashville, Dragonfly was carefully crafted with a patchwork of collaborators and homegrown sessions. Josef Kuhn (Samia, Mali Velasquez, Annie DiRusso) produced the bulk of the record in his East Nashville studio, while additional songs were shaped alongside Ben Coleman, Jonah Ward, and quickly, quickly (Graham Jonson). Across the album’s eight tracks, McCoy expands her sonic world without losing the intimate storytelling at its core. Banjo, mandolin, 80’s-era guitar pedals, synth pads, and lush vocal stacks weave in and out. There are moments of raw folk minimalism and others of cathartic, road-trip-ready indie rock.
“The songs are fragile, imperfect,” McCoy says, reflecting on the album’s visual motif of Delft tiles created by ceramicist and print-maker Amelia McDonnell. Illustrated with delicate drawings inspired by moments from the record, the tiles are tangible renderings of the patchwork nature at the heart of these songs.
“It’s kinda all over the place, but so am I,” McCoy says. “Dragonfly feels like a patchwork quilt of me post-college. Realizing the dumb decisions I made (maybe don’t get that tattoo in your dorm room), the things I should’ve said, the ways in which I’ve changed. My tendency to self-sabotage. Friendships and relationships that have gone sour. Surviving sexual harassment and assault, and allowing myself to speak about it freely after spending almost a decade being ashamed. Since writing and recording these songs, I’m no longer afraid to say everything on my mind.”
Dragonfly is due out May 30 via Acrophase Records in partnership with Secretly Distribution.
Ava McCoy
Dragonfly
(Acrophase Records)
Release Date: May 30, 2025
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Photo Credit: Eden Niefer
SPILL ALBUM REVIEW: AVA McCOY- DRAGONFLY
