说明:
(2022) Friendship - Love the Stranger
Review:
The 4th album by ambling folk-rockers Friendship, Love the Stranger represents a handful of firsts for the project. With each of their albums up to this point featuring different production credits, it’s the Philadelphians’ first to be produced by Bradford Krieger (Horse Jumper of Love, Nova One), it’s their first to credit songwriting to all four members instead of just Dan Wriggins, and it’s their first to find each member playing at least four instruments — a true collaborative effort. It’s also their first album to see release after the acclaimed full-length debut of 2nd Grade, a very different indie band featuring Friendship’s Peter Gill and Jon Samuels. Last but certainly not least, Love the Stranger marks Friendship’s Merge Records debut after a steady climb through the indie ranks. While typically low-key and rustic in nature, with touches of (mostly) atmospheric keyboards and electronics, the album is further distinguished by the use of brief instrumentals that make up about one-third of its extensive track list. Love the Stranger begins with the ruminative “St. Bonaventure,” which finds Wriggins’ craggy, conversational delivery entering with the lines “Still swinging on my vine/Still getting up every day/Keep from brooding/Keep it moving/To the end of the week,” over lap steel, sparse guitars, simple bass and drums, and part-time vocal harmonies. This sets the tone for much of a weary group of songs in the drudgery of the everyday, although it never quite stagnates. Lusher entries, for instance, include the crunchier “Ryde,” which adopts the elemental percussion and minor intervals of a work song until it breaks open into an organ- and strings-accompanied version of heartland rock. Harmonica surfaces alongside more animated guitar lines on the relatively upbeat “Chomp Chomp,” which contains the phrases “loving the stranger” and “love is a stranger” (“everywhere you go”). Elsewhere, “Alive Twice” puts spacy effects and echo at the front of mix, overtop piano, keys, and a measure-marking bass drum. As for the instrumentals, “Love’s” is a rare extended-chord exploration, and “Kum & Go” incorporates Southwestern Europe-style guitar and accordion. By the time the 17-track album ends with the driving “Season” followed by the King of the Hill-quoting “Smooth Pursuit,” however, it has never quite abandoned its back-porch feel or relentlessly existential point of view, closing on the words “Down here in the greasy mess/Hoping for the best.” — allmusic
Track List:
01 - St. Bonaventure
02 - What's the Move
03 - Blue Canoe
04 - Hank
05 - Chomp Chomp
06 - Love's
07 - No Way
08 - Alive Twice
09 - Quickchek
10 - Ramekin
11 - Mr. Chill
12 - UDF
13 - Ryde
14 - Season
15 - Kum & Go
16 - Ugly Little Victory
17 - Smooth Pursuit
Media Report:
Genre: americana, folk-rock
Country: USA
Format: FLAC
Format/Info: Free Lossless Audio Codec
Bit rate mode: Variable
Channel(s): 2 channels
Sampling rate: 44.1 KHz
Bit depth: 16 bits
Compression mode: Lossless
Writing library: libFLAC 1.2.1 (UTC 2007-09-17)
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