Award-winning singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Abby Posner (she/they) has announced upcoming album Rest & Rise, which follows a “path from heartbreak into healing” while also “reflecting on the social and political realities that have shaped the last decade.” The album arrives on October 30th, 2026.
The collection spans a transformative period in Posner’s life following a painful breakup and the disorientation of world changing rapidly. The record deals with “heartbreak, grief, queer identity, aging, political awakening, hope”, but also healing.
Posner says of the album:
Rest and Rise came out of one of the biggest periods of transition in my life. I was reeling from a heavy breakup, but at the same time I was rediscovering myself. These songs became a way of exploring grief, identity, hope, and all the different versions of who we become after life changes us. I wanted to make a record that acknowledged the messiness of healing while still believing there’s something beautiful waiting on the other side.
The album was recorded in two parts, where Side A is,“Rest” and “Rise” is Side B following, and this illustrates a movement through “grief and reflection toward renewal.”
This Friday, September 4th, Posner will release a track from the new album titled “I’m Doing Fine.” Within the context of the album, the song arose when Posner “found herself confronting the disorienting reality that while one relationship can bring your world to a halt, everyone and everything else keeps moving.” The song is full of observations of the world in transit, of those very changes that heart-breakingly suggest leaving a previous world behind.
The narrator geographically moves in response to these changes, “traveling through South Carolina and trying to put distance between herself and California, and the memories she left there.” But the statement “I’m doing fine” becomes one that is not so much about heartbreak as “about learning how to live in a world that has already moved on.”
We’re very pleased to premier the video and the song “I’m Doing Fine” here on Wildfire Music + News ahead of Friday’s official release.
“I’m Doing Fine” is a great example of why freedom of expression is so important, musically and lyrically, for artists to be able to explore new territory. It’s hard to imagine a strictly commercial single flowing through several musical movements, moving breezily in and out of genres, and even changing in vocal styles, all in the service of the message and theme of the song. “I’m Doing Fine” does all those things without a trace of gimmick to it, but with a powerful feeling of authenticity. You might even say that these shifts represent the exploration that the narrator is having to undertake, but in a more sonically rendered way. As the sounds shift, their mood and attitude shifts are represented, a kind of wide stretching out they need to enact in search of answers and healing.
The song opens with a sense of space, and a careful delineation of rhythms that will help guide the audience through these dance-like interchanges. Interestingly, the lyrics also introduce a kind of starting point that sounds timeless, “Love, sweet Love, why do you have to go?” Those two elements are very harmonious in relation to where the song ends up, deep into traditional tones and even an older vocal style, like bookends that reinforce not just the epoch-less feel of the song, but the thematic reality of its timeless message, that of suffering and surviving heartbreak and struggle. The song brings a warmth to that reality through suggesting the communal human ownership of these experiences.
Posner usually has a keen focus on making sure that lyrics do not become too abstract, losing their punch. Here there’s careful storytelling and details from life, but also an accurate emotional observation. We often observe others in order to learn how to survive hard times. We compare their experiences to our own, at times painfully, but because we must. If they are able to go on, does that mean that we are also able to go on with life? Sonically, again, Posner seems to tie sound to theme as the pace of the song continues to suggest the unstoppable rhythm of the world moving forward, even while emotion pulls the narrator backwards. Posner does some really interesting things with sound elements on this song that fall somewhere between vocals and instrumentals, little percussive accents that still feel organic and also remind us of the rhythms of life, whether in cities or nature. The tremendous of build up of energy in the song, through its three movements (or more, depending on how you count them) seems to arrive with a wild burst among the experiences of the past, of our ancestors, of our fellow humans, a reminder of their determination to survive and the ways in which they weathered shocks and tragedies, and held onto hopeful developments.
Lastly, the simple video that was crafted to accompany this song is also very nicely tailored to some of the song’s ideas and sounds, and helps to bring them out more fully. Posner’s instrument and costume changes throughout the video point very clearly to the artist’s role as a multi-instrumentalist on this record, a kind of orchestra of one, but also to the different moods and attitudes we encounter in the song, all coming into harmony. Famously, in the “Peter and the Wolf”, the different voices of the instruments represent different characters. In the same way, we might associate these different versions of Posner with the different sounds they make and bring to the equation. Marching together, though at times with heels almost dragging, these versions of the narrator give into the forward movement of life and make their voices heard. The vocalist, of course, ties them together, even though the vocal styles also change.
Posner’s facial expressions and postures even help the audience to understand the imaginative state mentioned in the song, thinking about other peoples’ happiness. We also get to see the physicality of the instrumental build up as Posner dances into the sounds of the past, inviting healing through those rhythms and a determined participation with ongoing existence. Nothing is final about the song, but everything is intentional, and that also becomes a kind of message. We have to participate in an intentional way if we want our own kinds of answers to the riddles life poses us.
Abby Posner writes about the track:
“I’m Doing Fine” explores the quiet, disorienting moments when grief lingers long after the world has moved on. It’s about feeling suspended in place while everything around you continues to grow, bloom, and evolve.
The song unfolds through everyday scenes—a coffee shop filled with fresh flowers, symbols of renewal and new beginnings; a waitress who once admired your relationship now finding love herself. Through these small but profound observations, the song paints a portrait of loss, stagnation, and the strange experience of watching life move forward when you’re not yet ready to follow.
Musically, the upcoming album is rooted in Americana, Folk, Indie Rock, and singer-songwriter traditions, but expands on those through exploratory arrangements and experiments in production. Posner produced, engineered, mixed, and performed nearly every instrument on the record herself, layering acoustic textures with sonic elements, including the cello banjo. Ryan Cassata also appears on “Failures on the Wall,” while Freddy Angelico contributes pedal steel on “I’m Doing Fine.”
Posner says:
I challenge myself as both a writer and producer with every album. I love sculpting sound as much as I love writing songs. Every layer, every instrument, every production choice becomes part of the storytelling. I wanted these songs to grow from simple ideas I wrote on banjo or guitar into fully realized worlds.
I put everything I had into this album, I played almost every instrument, spent countless hours writing, recording, mixing, and refining every detail. More than anything, I hope people hear themselves somewhere in these songs. If they leave feeling a little less alone, then I’ve done what I set out to do.
Rest & Rise is presented by Posner as “an honest companion for navigating change.” It looks at life’s contradictions and encourages audiences to find resilience and continue to move forward.
