Free Whenever’s “Ascension” Is a Mindful Groove Odyssey That Redefines Modern Psychedelia

Listening to Ascension by Free Whenever feels less like pressing play on an album and more like stepping into a living, breathing moment. It is a deeply immersive experience, full of color, space, soul, and a refreshing lack of pretense. With a sound that slips effortlessly between structure and spontaneity, Free Whenever delivers something rare: psychedelic music that feels grounded, emotionally honest, and alive.

The album is a sonic documentation of growth, both individual and collective. From the very first track, “Day One,” listeners are greeted by warm, analog textures, locked-in rhythm sections, and guitar lines that drift and bend like sun rays through the smoke. What makes these songs so engaging is not just their groove but the feeling that they are being discovered in real-time. You can tell this band doesn’t just write songs — they find them, often inside loose, evolving jam sessions that become magic when captured at the right moment.

“Bank Robbery” is one of those tracks that stays with you long after it ends. Rooted in a dusty, dub-inflected riff, it creates an atmosphere that’s both cinematic and tactile. You can almost see the movie play out in your mind as the music rolls on. On the other end of the spectrum, “Brain Waves” feels entirely off-the-cuff, recorded in a burst and left untouched, offering an intimate peek into the band’s process of trusting the moment. There’s no polish here, just presence. And that’s precisely what makes it powerful.

One of the most intriguing moments on the album is “Inside Out,” a collaboration with KATZROAR that incorporates vocals in a way that reorients the listener. The song introduces a layer of surrealism and narrative, bending the Free Whenever formula into something dreamier and more delicate without losing its sense of intention.

What makes Ascension special is not any one track or moment but the entire philosophy behind it. The songs were recorded in various environments: bedrooms, rooftops, and makeshift home studios, and each location left its unique imprint on the music. It’s not a glossy, high-budget production, and that’s the point. Free Whenever didn’t chase perfection.

They chased honesty. Every drumbeat, every bass groove, and every ambient noise in the background is part of the invitation to experience music as it happens, without filters or edits.

At its heart, Ascension is about change and acceptance. It’s about pushing boundaries while honoring what brought you to this point. It reflects the band’s desire to grow creatively without losing its essence.

Who they are is a group of artists who live and breathe the music they make. They are not trying to be the next big thing. They are building something for the long run, a body of work that evolves in real-time, both recorded and live, and invites listeners into that journey.

You don’t just listen to this album. You move with it. You reflect on it. You drive with it. You breathe with it. Whether you’re a seasoned psych-funk fan or just discovering Free Whenever for the first time, Ascension delivers a fully realized world of sound that is just as comfortable being your meditative backdrop as it is your main event.

In a landscape where much of modern music feels increasingly synthetic and formulaic, Ascension is a reminder of what it means to play from the heart. It invites you to surrender to the flow, take a breath, and follow the groove wherever it leads.

Ascension feels like a balance between structure and chaos. How do you know when a jam is finished, or is it ever truly finished?

TREVOR: We believe in allowing songs to live and breathe, grow and change throughout, and even after, the writing and recording process. It’s more instinctual. And it’s always right when you think the jam is over that it’s beginning.

NEIL: Many of our fan favorites have grown and changed even after they’ve been released, and each time we play and perform them, they make a new statement. For us, that keeps our music interesting and increasingly meaningful over time. 

You recorded across rooftops, bedrooms, and studios. How did those spaces shape the emotional or sonic energy of each track?

NEIL: Free Whenever was never a historically well-resourced project. Being in NYC, we’ve constantly had to bounce around, improvise, and find whatever location we could find or afford to record our music. On one level, it has taught us to be fast and effective self-recorders and self-producers, but more importantly, it allows us to tap into a wide range of different environments that affect how we play and, therefore, the finished result. For example, in some environments, we play more minimally and intently, while in others, we play with more freedom and expressiveness. We’ve learned to embrace that balance and the unique results it creates, especially across an entire record.

TREVOR: It’s funny because people always ask where we rehearse and record, and it’s never a straightforward answer. Free Whenever has never been about going the traditional route – the band started from our mutual desire to mess around and come up with something new in the genre we love. As Neil said, it keeps the music and process fresh; we are constantly evolving while digging further into the ethos of what Free Whenever truly is.

“Inside Out” flips your usual approach. What was it like bringing in a collaborator like KATZROAR, and how did that stretch you creatively?

NEIL: Our process has always been something that thrived as a somewhat protected songwriting relationship between Trevor and me. Over time, we’ve found ways to bring certain people into that process, like Brendan, in a way that’s additive. However, it takes time to meld different creative flows into a prolific creative relationship. With Katya (i.e., KATZROAR), things happened quickly. And the gravity of the music we outputted with her felt like one and one equalling ten.

TREVOR: It was an amazing process, and how our relationship began with KATZROAR is an interesting story in itself that the lyrics to “Inside Out” touch on. As you may know, we enjoy jamming and recording everything! So, it was great having Katya arrange some of them into these amazing structures. 

Many fans say your music is both grounding and transportive. How do you stay centered while making music meant to transcend?

NEIL: We are seekers of transcendent music at our core, so for us to play and create it has always felt easy and natural. To create such music, it relies on creators feeling a sense of ease and naturalness. Part of it is tapping into the deepest parts of yourself when performing, writing, and so on, but the other part is working with other musicians who are also ready to lose themselves. You end up stumbling upon something that begins to transcend what one musician can do. It’s about connections across minds, which we, in turn, believe enables listeners to connect to something beyond themselves as well.

Trevor: I think about this a lot. We would love to say we’re always centered, but that’s not always the case! But as Neil said, it requires ease and naturalness, which comes naturally to us when we have instruments in our hands. Otherwise, we keep pushing through. Five years on, and we’ve never stopped making music, playing live, or trying to build it. Perseverance is really what keeps us centered. 

For someone hearing Free Whenever for the first time, what’s the ideal setting to experience Ascension, and what would you hope they take away from it?

Trevor: On a record player with a big, beautiful sound system! That would be the best aural experience, but our music is free to listen to wherever and whenever you like. When you put on our record, I hope it’s when you are ready to listen and have a psychedelic music experience, whether that’s in the car, on the beach, or in a state of motion—any time you’re feeling it and listening at the moment.

NEIL: We want our listeners to experience the record in its entirety. Each song makes a slightly different statement and provides a unique snapshot of Free Whenever, but the entire album truly showcases an evolution and continuation of our musical journey, representing something profoundly transformative compared to our previous works. This record marks the beginning of a path we’re on to continually incorporate storytelling into our songwriting, as well as to delve deeper into the raw moments in our process, capture them, and ensure they’re represented in the final product.