Friendship announce Merge debut & tour, share Joe Pera-directed video
Philly-via-Maine indie folk band Friendship recently signed to Merge and released the new single "Ugly Little Victory" and now they've announced their first album for the label, Love the Stranger, due July 29 (pre-order). The band co-produced it with Bradford Krieger (Horse Jumper of Love, Ian Sweet), and it includes "Ugly Little Victory," re-recordings of two songs from vocalist Dan Wriggins' 2021 solo EP Mr. Chill, and the just-released "Hank." Dan Wriggins calls this one "a song about when you go to fix something that’s broken and realize the tools you’re supposed to fix it with are also broken," and as is often the case with Friendship, it's deceptively simple, with earthy instrumentation, a plainspoken delivery from Dan, and tons of depth beneath the breezy exterior. It comes with a video directed by comedian Joe Pera, who says:
Dan Wriggins sent me the Friendship album and as soon as I finished listening, I asked if I could possibly direct a video for it.
While brainstorming concepts with Dan and Michael Cormier-O’Leary, we came upon the idea of going to Little Cranberry Island in Maine, where Dan has family roots and used to work as a lobster fisherman. We spent a few early spring days on the island going to the bathroom in an outhouse and following the workdays of two of the most interesting people Dan knows there, Henry, a carpenter, and Kaitlyn, an artist.
Editor Grant Farsi helped sort out the 10+ hours of footage me and Michael Kaplan shot, and that’s the story of the video. Me and Friendship are hoping it will get a million views on YouTube and lead to a collaboration with Shakira.
Watch the video below.
Friendship also announced a tour with Tenci (aka Chicago singer/songwriter Jess Shorman), including a NYC show on August 7 at TV Eye. All dates are listed below.
Tracklist
St. Bonaventure
What’s the Move
Blue Canoe
Hank
Chomp Chomp
Love’s
No Way
Alive Twice
Quickchek
Ramekin
Mr. Chill
UDF
Ryde
Season
Kum & Go
Ugly Little Victory
Smooth Pursuit
Friendship -- 2022 Tour Dates
May 20 Peterborough, NH – The Thing in the Spring
Aug 02 Nashville, TN – DRKMTTR*
Aug 03 Charlotte, NC – Neighborhood Theatre Side State*
Aug 04 Durham, NC – The Pinhook*
Aug 05 Washington, DC – Songbyrd*
Aug 06 Philadelphia, PA – Johnny Brenda’s*
Aug 07 New York NY – TV Eye*
Aug 09 Boston, MA – The Rockwell*
Aug 10 Montreal, QC – Casa del Popolo*
Aug 11 Toronto, ON – The Drake Hotel*
Aug 12 Columbus, OH – Rumba Cafe*
Aug 13 Detroit, MI – The Underground @ DIME*
Aug 14 Chicago, IL – The Hideout*
* w/ Tenci