{"title":"Friendship","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFriendship\u003c\/strong\u003e, the Philly-based band of Dan Wriggins, Michael Cormier-O’Leary, Jon Samuels, and Peter Gill, will release their next full-length worldwide on Merge Records in 2022.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFriendship’s roots trace back to Yarmouth, Maine, the small town where Wriggins, Gill, and Cormier-O’Leary grew up. (Friendship took their name from Friendship, Maine, about an hour up the coast from Yarmouth, but that’s neither here nor there.) They moved to Philly in 2015, and the Friendship band has expanded and contracted since, releasing several EPs and linking up with Orindal Records in Chicago for 2017’s \u003ci\u003eShock Out of Season\u003c\/i\u003e and 2019’s \u003ci\u003eDreamin’ \u003c\/i\u003e(Orindal also released Wriggins’ solo EP \u003ci\u003eMr. Chill \u003c\/i\u003elast year).\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"friendship-friendship-t-shirt","title":"Friendship - Friendship T-shirt","description":"\u003cp\u003eWe're so thrilled to announce that \u003ca href=\"\/collections\/friendship\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFriendship\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color:black;\"\u003e—\u003c\/span\u003ethe Philly-based band of Dan Wriggins, Michael Cormier-O’Leary, Jon Samuels, and Peter Gill\u003cspan style=\"color:black;\"\u003e—\u003c\/span\u003ehave signed to Merge that we had to make a t-shirt to celebrate!\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMulticolor design printed on a Royal Apparel heather gray unisex tee made of 100% combed ring-spun cotton.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"merge records","offers":[{"title":"XS","offer_id":52739304063287,"sku":"MRG797-TS-XS","price":22.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0966\/3935\/3143\/files\/73312a81c5e403489d74f646849dd2121c589a98_ee76db074b4c4ad3b7a7874c08fd9d52961e4b59_medium_jpg.jpg?v=1785382239"},{"product_id":"friendship-ugly-little-victory","title":"Friendship - \"Ugly Little Victory\"","description":"\u003cp\u003e“Ugly Little Victory,” a song that’s been a staple of \u003ca href=\"\/collections\/friendship\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFriendship\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e's live shows for several years, is Merge's inaugural release by the band.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"merge records","offers":[{"title":"Download","offer_id":52739307405623,"sku":"MRG797dig1","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0966\/3935\/3143\/files\/75953d6285e4b1bf58a75d9d19a07f44f497900f_de22fc2bf50fdb01954c454ec2516c2426e45d66_medium_jpg.jpg?v=1785382242"},{"product_id":"friendship-love-the-stranger","title":"Friendship - Love the Stranger","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"background-color:transparent;color:#000000;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFriendship\u003c\/strong\u003e’s Merge debut, \u003ci\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eLove the Stranger\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e, moves like a country record skipping in just the right spot, leaving its fellow travelers longing for a place they’ve only visited in their dreams. Guitarist Peter Gill, drummer Michael Cormier-O’Leary, bassist Jon Samuels, and hawkeyed balladeer Dan Wriggins map out the group’s particular, breathtaking landscape and invite the listener to share in its glory.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp style=\"margin-left:0.55pt;\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"background-color:transparent;color:#000000;\"\u003eBetween instrumental pit stops at “Kum \u0026amp; Go” and “Quickchek,” local references in \u003ci\u003eLove the Stranger \u003c\/i\u003ecreate a catalog of human perception, presented as roadside attractions. From grape jelly residue (“Ramekin”) to the site of a demolished cathedral (“St. Bonaventure”) to \u003ci\u003eKing of the Hill\u003c\/i\u003e quotations (“Smooth Pursuit”), the record’s images craft a symbolic language of high and low Americana, both evocative and consistently accessible. Spending time with \u003ci\u003eLove the Stranger\u003c\/i\u003e creates a community—one in which the window between the listener and the music-maker shatters in full, until all that remains are the fragments you decide to pick up together.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"background-color:transparent;color:#000000;\"\u003eFriendship is probably already your favorite band’s favorite band, a long-revered IYKYK of DIY with a devoted cult following from Wawa to In-N-Out. With \u003ci\u003eLove the Stranger\u003c\/i\u003e, the Friendship universe only continues to expand and grow more open-hearted, more inviting, with every passing note. It’s a record that locates the listener exactly where the listener is, and wherever that may be, makes a friend out of them, too. All said and done, the age-old maxim of “Mr. Chill” holds true: “You be real with me and I’ll be real with you.”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"merge records","offers":[{"title":"Peak Vinyl (Opaque Blue Galaxy)","offer_id":52739321069879,"sku":"MRG797lp-C1","price":22.98,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"LP (Black)","offer_id":52739321102647,"sku":"MRG797LP","price":21.98,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD","offer_id":52739321135415,"sku":"MRG797CD","price":14.98,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0966\/3935\/3143\/files\/2525210f5415d196387ec600e9b376e509dbde56_1483502510b152b77050657d8b47aba9b1c48a45_medium_jpg.jpg?v=1785382262"},{"product_id":"friendship-caveman-wakes-up","title":"Friendship - Caveman Wakes Up","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"background-color:transparent;color:#000000;\"\u003eAn album for sleeping and waking, walking and driving, hunting and fishing, for loitering outside a roadhouse on the haunted tundra. Okay in elevators, not great for dinner. On \u003ci\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eCaveman Wakes Up\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e,\u003ci\u003e \u003c\/i\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFriendship\u003c\/strong\u003e’s second album for Merge Records, the band’s historically capacious definition of country music grows wider still. Shambolic guitars are offset by flute pads, bleary poetry is set against a Motown rhythm section, a song about Jerry Garcia and First Lady Betty Ford fades out with a drum solo, like if Talk Talk came from a dingy Philadelphia basement and was fronted by James Tate. Songwriter Dan Wriggins’ ragged baritone cuts through eleven murky, swirling country-rock songs with profound lyrical substance and sincerity. Like an alarm clock incorporated into the edge of a dream, \u003ci\u003eCaveman Wakes Up \u003c\/i\u003ebelongs equally to the conscious and subconscious mind, fraught with background, steeped in reference and experimentation, delivered casually and as a dire warning, dedicated, above all, to music’s creative soul.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"merge records","offers":[{"title":"LP (Black)","offer_id":52739415736631,"sku":"MRG861LP","price":25.98,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD","offer_id":52739415703863,"sku":"MRG861CD","price":14.98,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Download","offer_id":52739415671095,"sku":"MRG861digital","price":7.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0966\/3935\/3143\/files\/63b23beb871a349b0ddc9ba3ff3b2eda134802b1_b532ee95ea41444bb9ac0817524b2df2109aec7d_medium_jpg.jpg?v=1785382768"},{"product_id":"friendship-chaos-outside-free-association-remixes-ep","title":"Friendship - Chaos Outside (Free Association Remixes) EP","description":"\u003cp style=\"margin-left:0.0px;\"\u003eFriendship’s Dan Wriggins on \u003ci\u003eChaos Outside\u003c\/i\u003e:\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp style=\"margin-left:48.0px;\"\u003eFour remixes of Friendship’s “Free Association” by four of the game’s headiest. A lot of Friendship songs don’t feel too different between the stage and the studio. “Free Association” was an exception and nearly didn’t make it onto \u003ci\u003eCaveman Wakes Up\u003c\/i\u003e because the mix was so beastly. We slogged through and discovered something we loved: a composite of disparate parts that never sounded right together until they did. It only stands to reason that our friends might devise even more glorious assemblages. We ended up with four new songs, freaky peeks into the creative brains of more eaze, Ylayali, Andy Loebs, and Lambchop’s Kurt Wagner. Anything marvelous is beautiful. \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"merge records","offers":[{"title":"Download","offer_id":52739436970295,"sku":"MRG861digital-EP","price":5.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0966\/3935\/3143\/files\/b9ba0cd3dccacb9dec4415453e3da8d2cec7a0cb_aa8eff673dda5f0a2df27fa1257f675fbd4a62a7_medium_jpg.jpg?v=1785382861"},{"product_id":"love-the-stranger-album-t-shirt-bundle","title":"Friendship - Love the Stranger Album + T-shirt Bundle","description":"","brand":"merge records","offers":[{"title":"Peak Vinyl (Opaque Blue Galaxy) \/ XS","offer_id":52826151878967,"sku":null,"price":44.98,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Peak Vinyl (Opaque Blue Galaxy) \/ Small","offer_id":52826151911735,"sku":null,"price":44.98,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"Peak Vinyl (Opaque Blue Galaxy) \/ Medium","offer_id":52826151944503,"sku":null,"price":44.98,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"Peak Vinyl (Opaque Blue Galaxy) \/ Large","offer_id":52826151977271,"sku":null,"price":44.98,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"Peak Vinyl (Opaque Blue Galaxy) \/ XL","offer_id":52826152010039,"sku":null,"price":44.98,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"Peak Vinyl (Opaque Blue Galaxy) \/ XXL","offer_id":52826152042807,"sku":null,"price":44.98,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"LP (Black) \/ XS","offer_id":52826152075575,"sku":null,"price":43.98,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"LP (Black) \/ Small","offer_id":52826152108343,"sku":null,"price":43.98,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"LP (Black) \/ Medium","offer_id":52826152141111,"sku":null,"price":43.98,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"LP (Black) \/ Large","offer_id":52826152173879,"sku":null,"price":43.98,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"LP (Black) \/ XL","offer_id":52826152206647,"sku":null,"price":43.98,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"LP (Black) \/ XXL","offer_id":52826152239415,"sku":null,"price":43.98,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"CD \/ XS","offer_id":52826152272183,"sku":null,"price":36.98,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD \/ Small","offer_id":52826152304951,"sku":null,"price":36.98,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"CD \/ Medium","offer_id":52826152337719,"sku":null,"price":36.98,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"CD \/ Large","offer_id":52826152370487,"sku":null,"price":36.98,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"CD \/ XL","offer_id":52826152403255,"sku":null,"price":36.98,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false},{"title":"CD \/ XXL","offer_id":52826152436023,"sku":null,"price":36.98,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0966\/3935\/3143\/files\/b5611f3f3f755731840ed51565843a1bef412364_c98469e7cc2b94651195be5db6ce2f8b9258a5b5_medium_jpg_61eff463-84ef-469b-a8ee-78a1fbb8967a.jpg?v=1786568654"}],"url":"https:\/\/mergerecords.com\/collections\/friendship.oembed","provider":"Merge Records","version":"1.0","type":"link"}