Daffo Announces Full-Length Debut, Where the Earth Bends, Out This Fall

Emerging indie-rock artist Daffo—the musical moniker of 21-year-old singer/songwriter Gabi Gamberg—has announced their debut album Where the Earth Bends, set for release on September 26 via Concord Records. Known for their poetic specificity and emotional honesty, Daffo delivers a stirring coming-of-age record that finds catharsis in the uncomfortable corners of the human experience: shame, obsession, fractured love, and the frantic churn of an overactive mind. With production by Rob Schnapf (Elliott Smith, Beck, Cat Power), the album pairs frenetic energy with intimate vulnerability, elevating Daffo’s raw storytelling into a bold sonic statement.

At the heart of Where the Earth Bends is unflinching self-reflection, particularly in tracks like “Habit”, released this week alongside a video by Anastasia Duchess. Distortion-drenched and emotionally charged, the song confronts Gamberg’s lived experience with obsessive-compulsive disorder. “I wrote that song at a moment when I was having a hard time with my OCD and cyclical thinking,” they explain. “It’s partly about how I tend to come to conclusions about certain situations before even allowing myself to experience them.” Elsewhere, songs like “Quick Fix” and “Absence Makes the Heart Grow” tackle the false comforts of bad habits and the pain of emotional distance with a combination of grunge-laced sound and lyrical grace.

Daffo’s artistry has been shaped as much by their inner world as by their unconventional path. Classically trained on violin from age six and later drawn to guitar and DIY music, Gamberg immersed themselves in the northern New Jersey underground scene as a teen. After a stint at Idyllwild Arts Academy during the pandemic—where they self-released their 2021 debut EP Crisis Kit—Gamberg moved to New York to study at NYU’s Clive Davis Institute. Their slow but steady rise in the local DIY scene soon went viral thanks to a spontaneous TikTok performance of “The Experiment,” a song that found its way onto their 2023 EP Pest and helped spark a growing fanbase.

That momentum led to a deal with Concord Records, prompting Gamberg to leave school and pursue music full-time. Since then, they’ve toured alongside illuminati hotties, Annie DiRusso, and now Blondshell, with a fall tour set to support buzzed-about indie rockers Wednesday. These live shows bring to life the emotional immediacy that defines Where the Earth Bends, from the self-aware singalong of album opener “Get a Life” to the aching closer, “She’ll Sleep It Off.”

What sets Daffo apart is their ability to render pain into something unexpectedly beautiful. “At first I had a hard time with songwriting classes,” Gamberg recalls of their time at Idyllwild. “I didn’t like the idea of following any kind of formula or rules. But eventually I learned a lot about what makes a song effective, and how to convey things in a way that really gets through to somebody.” That commitment to emotional precision pulses through every track on the album, offering listeners not just music, but connection.

With Where the Earth Bends, Daffo emerges as a vital new voice in indie rock—one unafraid to peer inward and share the mess, magic, and meaning found there. The album arrives September 26 via Concord Records. Daffo is currently on tour with Blondshell and will hit the road again this fall supporting Wednesday. For tour dates and more, follow Daffo on Instagram @daffomusic.