Los Angeles–based duo Fore Fader, the creative pairing of Stephanie Carlin and Carey Clayton, make a spellbinding debut with their first album, Great Pretender, released October 10, 2025. Written and recorded across the solitude of Joshua Tree and the lush quiet of the Los Padres Forest, this ten-track collection walks a fine line between ethereal alt-pop and spiritual introspection. As organic instrumentation merges with cinematic synths, Great Pretender comes out as a prayer through surviving self-deception to be further awakened into the beauty that arrives once the masks fall away. With traces of Florence + The Machine’s mystic energy and Massive Attack’s deep hypnotic pulse, Fore Fader makes a devotional sound.
The album opens with “Let the Light In,” a haunting call to awakening. Over an atmospheric haze of shimmering textures, Carlin’s breathy, intimate voice floats like an echo on the wind that engulfs you. Her lyrics move like scripture, coaxing transformation: “Little flower, time to open / time to blossom, to awaken.” The song builds gradually, layer by layer, until it feels like dawn breaking, a soft, spiritual unveiling.
The title track “Great Pretender” dives deeper into the human struggle to face truth. Anchored by a rustling rhythm section and swelling cinematic production, it moves like a ritual in motion. Later, “The Rain” offers a soothing reprieve. With strumming guitars and an ambient soundscape, it’s a hymn to renewal. She sings gently and soulfully, as she sings “You were there / you brought the rain.”
Great Pretender is a meditation on transformation that invites you to surrender, listen, and, at last, let the light in.
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Review by: Naomi Joan