Since we stumbled across Maine-to-Philly transplants Friendship earlier this year, we’ve been hooked. The band’s simmering, tempered take on meditative Americana struck a huge chord – Dan Wriggins’ emotive vocals and vivid lyrics about companionship and disconnection, Michael Cormier’s restrained drums, Peter Gill’s expressive pedal steel. Like I said in our feature profile of Friendship earlier this year, “it’s reminiscent of Pedro the Lion and Jason Molina, but also of Gram Parsons and George Jones.”
With that rich tapestry of influence, the band released its excellent debut LP “You’re Going to Have to Trust Me” in October on Burst and Bloom Records and embarked on a short fall tour with Abi Reimold. Back in town, they’re gearing up for a gig at West Philly’s All Night Diner on Monday, December 14th, and stopped by WXPN Studios to record a Key Sessions Set featuring highlights from the album as well as a couple surprises.
Alongside moving performances of “The New Normal,” “He Said ‘You Seemed So Much in Luv’” and the aching solo acoustic “EL,” they dug into their back catalog (aka the home-recorded YouTube-only EP The Further You Kick, The Bigger It Gets) for the simmering “Darla” and opened the set with a rousing new number called “Familiar.”
Dan Wriggins: vox and guitar
Peter Gill: pedal steel and guitar
Chalmers Hall: bass
Mike Cormier: drums and percussion
The Fat Angel Sings 