The Favors’ ‘The Dream’ is an Ode to the Beauty and Bruise of New York City

The Favors’ Sept. 19 debut, “The Dream,” doesn’t play like a simple studio collaboration. It drifts in the air like cigarette smoke curling out of a jazz club on a wet night in Manhattan.

Formed by collaborators FINNEAS and Ashe with band members Ricky Gourmet and David Marinelli, the band leans into sounds steeped in both nostalgia and immediacy. Their album feels at once like the 1960s Greenwich Village folk clubs and the dim-lit bars dotting the Lower East Side — both timeless in their loneliness. 

“The Dream” sets itself apart from other duet albums by making use of parallel singing. Sometimes their voices move in sync, sometimes they overlap, but more often they blur so completely that the listener can’t tell who carries the melody and who shadows it.

The effect is intimate and unsettling — two people caught in the same storm, singing over each other, yet moving toward the same inevitable crescendo.

The record begins quietly with “Restless Little Heart.” Just 55 seconds long, the track feels like snow falling on Fifth Avenue — delicate but relentless. The brevity of the track only intensifies its impact. It’s the opening sigh of a love story already trembling at its edges, a prelude to the city-sized ache that follows. 

The title track is the first true plunge into the album’s restless energy as basslines pulse like the rumble of the subway and percussion snaps like shoes click on wet pavement. As the song builds, FINNEAS and Ashe’s voices climb until they nearly collapse on top of one another. 

By the time the climax is reached, the track feels like Times Square at midnight — dizzying in its lights but hollow at its core. 

“I know if you wanted to call, you would / You live in your car, but you say you’re in Hollywood,” The Favors sing. “You sold your guitar just to pay for that video you sent to the studio / It’s all about who you know.”

Where “The Dream” is urgent, “Moonshine” slows the pace. As the track’s horns trail off like smoke in the cold, its lyrics mourn time’s unstoppable march. 

“The Little Mess You Made” drags private sorrow into the public square. 

“The little mess you made / Is all over the news / The littlest mistake / Can leave the darkest bruise,” Ashe sings. 

The song seethes with frustration, its climax a cacophony of parallel shouting where neither voice yields. 

“The Hudson” offers a quieter, more intimate reprieve. Piano and percussion sway slowly, mimicking the river’s steady current as the singer’s vocals intertwine until they become indistinguishable. 

“Watched the Sun ascend on the Hudson / You touched my hair and kissed my neck / Said you forgot how good I felt on your lips,” The Favors sing.

The memory in “The Hudson” is sweet, but it arrives too late — two lovers looking back at what once was, their intimacy shadowed by distance.

Later tracks pull the album deeper into heartbreak. “Necessary Evils” aches with resignation. The parallel singing in this track transforms into something mournful, two voices wailing in different rooms of the same apartment, unable to find each other. “Time Square Jesus” slows further still, its lyrics painting late-night wanderings through the Theater District. 

Not every track lingers into despair though. “David’s Brother” spins an inside joke into a euphoric release, its chorus bursting with conjoined shouting sounding like a crowded bar at last call. 

The album’s closing pair, “Someday I’ll Be Back in Hollywood” and “Home Sweet Home,” pull threads of longing and loss together. The former recalls the ambition of “The Dream,” — drummer Marinelli leading the charge in singing — while the latter explodes into disco rhythm. 

“Home Sweet Home” steps away from the New York City cold and transforms into the city in the summer — sweaty, radiant and fleeting. Heartbreak is still present, but by the final note, it becomes danceable, something bodies can carry together on a crowded floor.

“I still adore ya/ I didn’t call just to say, ‘Hello,’” The Favors sing.

“The Dream” tells of a full night in New York City, wandering from apartments to downtown dives, from Hudson River mornings to Time Square midnights. It captures the city’s paradox — heartbreak sharpened by beauty and love illuminated by loss. 

“The Dream” is available to stream on all major platforms.