Friendship

GENRE: folk/country LABLE: MERGE Records

I live on the fourth floor of a brownstone in the middle of Madison, Wisconsin. This particular apartment, with its aged wood trim and random nail heads protruding from the floorboards, gets unbearably hot in the midst of the summer days. I have resorted to a system of carrying a box fan around with me room to room, powered with a humorously long extension cord. I would spend these days sitting on my soup stained, thrifted plaid couch and patiently wait for the day to end. Whatever problems I had in my life at that time were further provoked with the heat. The tools of successfully navigating a healthy lifestyle are weakened and I can’t help but watch the world around me as I sweat into it.

Philly based alt-country group, Friendship, released their album Love the Stranger in late July of 2022. I first listened to this album on a two-hour drive from a cabin where I shared an entire week with extended family. The week was spent reading Pearl S. Buck’s, The Good Earth, and the danger of always having a beer within arm’s length. Coming off this uneventful week, the car ride was endured by listening to Love the Stranger fully in two rotations and it just made sense. 

Dan Wriggins and company began Friendship in 2015 with their debut album, Shock out of Season, from Chicago’s Orindal Records. The group was built around Wriggins and members from another Philly-based band, 2nd Grade. Their songwriting was consistent through two albums of subtle instrumentations and loosely constructed melodies. Since then, they have signed to Merge Records and now have the pressure to prove themselves as a potential indie powerhouse, alongside other Merge artists such as the Mountain Goats, Destroyer, and The New Pornographers. Instead of putting out something like the next Arcade Fire album, Dan stuck to what he knows best, sitting still. 

There is a loose misconception that the most powerful and meaningful songs are thunderous music festival anthems that inspire thousands of people. But in retrospect, the majority of life is spent waiting in traffic, melting into your couch watching the History Channel, staring at articles about deconstructed churches on your phone, or doing the dishes. “Waiting on the fan with a slow rotation” from the song “Hank” was the first phrase that intrigued me on Love the Stranger. This line in and of itself sums up Dan’s writing as looking around and taking inspiration from everything and nothing at all. What Dan accomplishes in this single line is an illustration of someone who finds themselves caught in the in-betweens of life. Someone who is broiling in their home and counting the time for the rotating fan to come back to them with its blessings. This fixation on the mundane is relatable to anything, which makes Dan’s writing that much more endearing. 

Love the Stranger is filled with frustration as well as a particular fixation on sitting still. Dan sings about the struggles of cleaning the grape-jelly remnants from a ramekin and being humored to a metaphor of the struggles of a relationship in turmoil. Jess Shoman from Chicago’s Tenci, makes an appearance on “What’s the Move”, singing about a faceless relationship. Even regional highway stops are given a nod of attention in the handful of minute long instrumentals spread throughout the album. “Kum & Go”, “QuickChek”, “Love’s”, and “UDF” are all regional convenience stores crossing the US, creating distance in the album and offering distinction to places that can blend together.

The Americana sound that the group emits has developed over time since their debut album. Approaching territory beyond the simple instrumentations, the group has embraced a larger sound that still holds true to rotating behind steel guitar drones and folk guitars. Dan’s voice, with its subtle grit, helps add frustration and emotion to the prosaic observations he’s singing about. Embracing the alt-country Americana sound is both charming as well as a callback to the classics where songs tell stories about the working man and the troubles of simple life.

I have had my fair share of dirty and laborious jobs growing up, enough to understand how disingenuous people can be. Learning how far the developing psyche of a teenager can be pushed. Being harassed by strangers because their table is too wobbly or their French dip isn’t warm enough for the complex palate can stain a world view. There comes a point when you get numb to the fact that people could care less about you, so you are given the opportunity to experience your surroundings undetected. You develop different meanings to the feelings you get from drinking alone as opposed to drinking with a friend. “I can tell you’re stuck. I can’t tell anyone else, cause you don’t threaten to help” is how Dan finishes “Mr. Chill”, a song about finding the right drinking buddy that won’t pity you for a bumpy existence. On the second to last track, Ugly Little Victory, Dan sings “it sucks when it ends and it sucks when it has no end”. An exhausting thought, but Friendship’s driving drums and dueling guitars approach make this the most inspiring (music festival anthem) line from Love the Stranger. “Only a nose hair away from inner peace today”, Dan sings on the album’s closer, “Smooth Pursuit”. An image of personal success of finding pleasure in your own place. 

What Love the Stranger accomplishes is the ability to be okay with the idea of not seizing the day. Carpe diem, a cheap slogan branded into our personal motifs from movies and crappy kitchen signs, places a lot of pressure on an individual who is tired of their surroundings and the world around them. It’s not that Dan is singing about running away, altering his life or anything serious like that, but rather gives comfort in the thoughts that come to you when you take a moment to sit still. 

On those hot summer days in my Madison apartment, I don’t panic anymore when I’m stuck on my couch with my box fan. I let it drown out the city noise and my shitty neighbors. Finding inspiration in an old couch, an unusable fireplace, or a rickety box fan can be just as inspiring as telling someone to be “Brave” or to “Shake It Off”.  Love the Stranger offers new perspectives and a bit of hope in a place that I often find cruel and aging. 

By: Shea Roney

Friendship information:

https://friendshipphl.bandcamp.com/album/love-the-stranger

https://www.mergerecords.com/artist/friendship