“He sounds like he’s dying.” When my wife — by no means an aficionado of diaristic indie country-rock steeped in melancholia — happened upon me listening to Friendship’s new album Caveman Wakes Up while doing yard work last weekend, her response mirrored Cher Horowitz’s disdain toward “the maudlin music of the university station” upon encountering “Fake Plastic Trees.” It’s true enough that the wordless mewls and moans with which Dan Wriggins closes out “Hollow Skulls” could be confused for a man in his death throes. He definitely doesn’t come across as vibrant in that moment. He seems fragile, weary, beaten down but resilient. He’s not triumphant, but he’s getting by.
And yet, in documenting that depleted state, Caveman Wakes Up truly is a triumph. Friendship’s fourth album finds the Philadelphia band ascending to greatness, arriving at the place they’ve spent the past decade going. It’s one of the most assured indie rock albums in recent memory, the sound of a brilliant writer coming into his own and a band honing in on the ideal aesthetic complement for his songs, imbuing his quiet indignities with a plaintive grace.
Wriggins sings in coarse baritone barks and bellows that evoke bards of desolation like David Berman and Jason Molina, sketching out moments from a humble life marked by loneliness and daily struggle, but not without a sense of humor. Those are trendy influences here at the peak of Lendermania, but Friendship are not bandwagon jumpers. As two of the main figures behind Dear Life Records, the label that released Boat Songs, drummer Michael Cormier-O’Leary and bassist Jon Samuels have carved out a vital space at the intersection of indie rock, country, and experimental music. (Their 2025 release slate of Fust, Florry, and Little Mazarn would make a hell of a package tour.) Friendship, who leveled up to old-guard indie mainstay Merge for 2022’s Love The Stranger, have been right there in the mix since the early 2010s — four guys spending their youthful primes plugging away at a career in indie rock at a time when living such a life has never been more practically difficult.
That pursuit has clearly taken its toll on Wriggins. “All Over The World,” a standout buried near the end of the new album, is a deeply affecting portrait of a life spent toiling away at menial labor between long stints on the road that disrupt any other career prospects. “Got a job pulling weeds/ On other people’s property,” he murmurs. “Shoring up liquidity/ On other people’s property.” The chorus shifts to a coworker from the landscaping company checking in while Friendship are on tour: “‘Hey buddy, where are you at?’/ I’m all over the world/ I’m all over the world.” Is this life of shotgunned Busch Lights and dandelion seeds in your eye really worth it? You can hear Wriggins contemplating that question with every drawled syllable. Yet there’s also a twinkle of optimism and acceptance in there, maybe even a wry smirk. The song can just as easily be read as a celebration of his chosen path.
Caveman Wakes Up is full of scenes like that, snapshots of an adulthood that can feel like both a noble pursuit and a prolonged adolescence. Some are lighthearted, like a visit to the convenience store with “the cheapest cigarettes on Earth” on “Love Vape.” Others are heavy, like “Betty Ford,” on which Wriggins is moved to tears by a video about the late first lady and recovering addict: “Because I’ve been in pain/ I’ve been miles away/ And I’ve done everything I could think of to cover it up.” He strikes a perfect balance between humor and regret on the exasperated “Resident Evil,” a song about coexisting with a godawful rando roommate that somehow turns the sentence “Who’s that shithead in my living room playing Resident Evil?” into an anthemic refrain.
That chorus hits like it does in no small part because of the gorgeous glittering chords that ripple across the background. Guitarist Peter Gill, who churns out bite-size power-pop gems in his other band 2nd Grade, here paints the corners of Wriggins’ songs with subtle beauty or foregrounds economical Crazy Horse riffs that slice across songs like “Tree Of Heaven.” The pogoing melody that powers lead single “Free Association” is hooky and propulsive without crowding out the weeping violin, the meditative piano, the tumbling toms. In a way that will appeal to fans of fellow searcher Cassandra Jenkins, every ingredient in these arrangements feels carefully considered, strategically assembled to create a state of permanent twilight.
The result is something like Nap Eyes fronted by Owen Ashworth: a batch of sad, sophisticated roots-rock songs that work as back porch music as well as poetic texts to be dissected. You don’t have to be a starving artist to relate to the jaded warning on opener “Salvage Title,” the misplaced optimism of “Hollow Skulls,” or the embittered romantic longing of closer “Fantasia.” You don’t have to have chilled on the stoop from “Tree Of Heaven,” visited the frigid seaside from “Wildwood In January,” or driven under the graffiti-strewn overpass from “Love Vape,” and it’s not necessary to clock Wriggins’ references to Jerry Garcia and Talking Heads. You don’t even need to be part of Friendship’s aging millennial cohort, a generation that’s struggling to afford starter homes, pilloried by the gig economy. All you need to connect with Caveman Wakes Up is an acquaintance with disappointment and hopes that stubbornly, perhaps naively persist.
Caveman Wakes Up is out 5/16 on Merge.
Other albums of note out this week:
• Pelican’s Flickering Resonance
• Lido Pimienta’s La Belleza
• The Gotobeds’ Masterclass
• Artificial Go’s Musical Chairs
• Ezra Furman’s Goodbye Small Head
• Rico Nasty’s LETHAL
• The Callous Daoboys’ I Don’t Want To See You In Heaven
• Triathalon’s Funeral Music
• Water Damage’s Instruments
• Morgan Wallen’s I’m The Problem
• Peter Doherty’s Felt Better Alive
• Spill Tab’s Angie
• Aminé’s 13 Months Of Sunshine
• Tune-Yards’ Better Dreaming
• Nicole Lawrence’s Time In Love
• Yuno’s Blest
• M(h)aol’s Something Soft
• Sofi Tukker’s Butter
• Jin’s Echo
• Billy Nomates’ Metalhorse
• Slow Mass’ Low On Foot
• DRAM & Ellis Quinn’s LEORPIO
• Arm’s Length’s There’s A Whole World Out There
• Thor & Friends’ Heathen Spirituals
• Bury Tomorrow’s Will You Haunt Me, With That Same Patience
• Miso Extra’s Earcandy
• Sir Woman’s If It Doesn’t
• MØ’s Plæygirl
• Reuben James’ Big People Music
• Your Grandparents’ The Dial
• Soot Sprite’s Wield Your Hope Like A Weapon
• Ken Pomeroy’s Cruel Joke
• Erin Durant’s Firetrail
• EKKSTACY’s Forever
• Windser’s Windser
• Jon Lindsay’s Big Stage
• Arrows In Action’s I Think I’ve Been Here Before (Part 1)
• José James’ 1978: Revenge Of The Dragon
• Fine Food Market’s I’m afraid to be in love with someone who crashes their car that much
• Matt Maltese’s Hers
• Charlie Musselwhite’s Look Out Highway
• Milena Casado’s Reflection Of Another Self
• Steve Von Till’s Alone In A World Of Wounds
• Dan Mangan’s Natural Light
• Superdestroyer’s Hell is real and all your friends are here.
• Grails’ Miracle Music
• Florence Road’s Fall Back
• Damiano David’s Funny Little Fears
• Cautious Clay’s The Hours: Morning
• Gruff Rhys’ American Interior – 10th Anniversary Edition
• Ben Frost’s Under Certain Light And Atmospheric Conditions
• Gold Dust’s In The Shade Of The Living Light
• Bryce Leatherwood’s Bryce Leatherwood
• Blood Monolith’s The Calling Of Fire
• 100%WET’s 100%WET
• Larcenia Roe’s Extraction
• Makeshift Spirituals’ Makeshift Spirituals
• bug crush’s Somehow I Go in Circles All the Time
• Ben Hackett’s Songs For Sleeping Dogs
• John Galm’s Sky Of No Stars
• Shanti Celeste’s Romance
• Duke Garwood’s Satin Warrior
• MonoNeon’s You Had Your Chance…Bad Attitude
• Triptides’ Shapeshifter
• Swimming Bell’s Somnia
• Pretty Rude’s Ripe
• Lionmilk’s When The Flowers Bloom
• A.M. Boys’ Present Phase
• Kilynn Lunsford’s Promiscuous Genes
• Paper Castles’ I’m Sad As Hell And I’m Not Going To Fake It Anymore
• Alexandra Savior’s Beneath The Lilypad
• Taz Modi’s Involuntary Memories
• Skydxddy’s TRAUMACORE (RAW & UNCUT)
• Cousin Wolf’s Nine Innings
• Weaklung’s All Problems No Solutions
• Buck-O-Nine’s Cut Out The Noise
• rusowsky’s Daisy
• Revival Season’s Formless Mixtape
• Lia Braswell’s Rising
• Matt Maltese’s Hers
• Prince Royce’s Eterno
• Wounded Touch’s A Vivid Depiction Of Collapse
• Novelists’ CODA
• Chuckyy’s I Live, I Die, I Live Again mixtape
• Nick Carter’s Love Life Tragedy
• The Gentle Good’s Elan
• Various Artists’ SWIGOD!: Libertino Cyfrol / Vol 1.
• Nouvelle Vague’s Should I Stay Or Should I Go? (Deluxe Edition)
• Linkin Park’s From Zero (Deluxe Edition)
• Avicii’s AVICII FOREVER compilation
• Orla Gartland’s Everybody Needs A Hero – Extended Edition
• Tarja’s Circus Life live album
• Homeboy Sandman & Brand The Builder’s Manners EP
• The Dandy Warhols’ ROCK REMAKER EP
• Full Of Hell’s Broken Sword, Rotten Shield EP
• Pop Free’s Spring EP
• Kilo Kish’s negotiations EP
• Carmel Smickersgill’s Unsolicited Advice EP
• TOKiMONSTA’s Eternal Reverie Remixes Pt. 1 EP
• Jayla Kai’s Love letter to everyone EP
• Farmer’s Wife’s Faint Illusions EP
• BoyNextDoor’s No Genre EP
• Youth Code’s Yours, With Malice EP
• Comet’s Quitter EP
• Froid Dub’s Tears Maker Chant EP
• Theo Bleak’s Bad Luck Is Two Yellow Flowers EP
• Tennis’ Neutral Poetry: First Recordings, Unreleased Demos 2009-2010 EP
