Adam Brodsky is an Anti-Folk singer from Philadelphia who will be releasing new album American Epitaph via his label, Permanent Records, on June 5th, 2026. It marks his first record in a number of years, and with it, he decided “to have songs presented as directly and honestly as possible”, something he’s been pursuing in Folk since the beginning of his work.

Today, we’re very pleased to premier the album track “Birthday Cake” which also arrives digitally this Friday, April 24th, 2026.

While some of the songs on American Epitaph are more political, and some are more personal, “Birthday Cake” manages to thread the needle by being both, and yet, it’s just a very human song with a very human performance. Its conversational feeling is important, because it’s how Brodsky manages to itemize the very real changes that have come to the world in the past 11 years, placing them in digestible chunks. The song addresses the artist’s sister on her birthday, and attempts to update her on the state of the world since her passing, and it’s a very tall order. That’s a lot of ground to cover anyway, but the level of change that Brodsky must convey is staggering. He handles it admirably, and does two things at once with this song: He conveys all the crazy, disturbing things that have happened in the world, and also paints a loving portrait of his sister through including little details of her tastes, likes, dislikes, and the ways in which he misses her.

The song is also there for the audience, though, giving them a way to process just how different a world we have come to live in, and to think about those who they have loved, appreciated, and lost, or just miss a great deal in their daily lives. It teaches us a couple of lessons along the way, though they may not be intentional, which is that we ought to appreciate the little “silly” things that people contribute to our lives, because that is certainly what we will miss most some day, and that we ought to remember that we didn’t always live in a world so gripped by fascism, terrible leadership, and lack of accountability. As hard as it is, it’s best to preserve our ability to be shocked through looking back and remembering more “normal” times.

Brodsky signs off on this song “I hope that where you are is kind.” The choice of the word “kind” is poignant, and links back to the idea that he voices earlier in the song, that it may be better that his sister hasn’t seen some of the decline of this country. It’s just another well-chosen word in a carefully worded song, one that uses contrast to get his point across. It’s a contrast to our current, un-kind times.

Adam Brodsky shares about the track:

So my sister died… a long time ago. Few years ago on her birthday I wrote this poem. Then I realized it was only a poem because my guitar was across the room. So now its a song, Took me a few years to be able to sing this without crying, I’ve never played it onstage and am too scared that i’ll weep, so enjoy it here. 

On the album, we’ll find a full band comprised of Jesse Lundy on guitars, Alex Meltzer on drums and a Fender Rhodes, and Chris Bixler on bass. The band took two days to record and mix four of the songs at Retro Studios with Matt Muir Producing. The rest of the record was made by Brodksy, playing solo and on harmonica, with Butch Ross adding instrumentation later on.  

Some of the songs on the new album, American Epitaph were, in fact “written to save democracy”, though others were not. Brodsky writes the others “to give joy and some encouragement to the millions of reasonable people that are gonna need to stand up and stay standing to meet this terrible moment.”