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Who: Friendly People
A little bit of background:
For the past three years, Friendly People has been sharing stages with the likes of Mother Mother, San Fermin, and You Won’t with their hand-crafted folk rock. Amidst self-releasing their 2012 full-length debut, “Shake,” Friendly People has toured extensively and made appearances at national festivals like SXSW and CMJ. Friendly People has been lurking on our radar since they released “Shake,” largely credited to the commanding presence of vocalist Pat McCusker. The band has been compared to Grizzly Bear and Dirty Projectors at times (not shabby groups to be paralleled with, eh?) with their tendencies to layer multiple rhythmic lines, some brief and others syncopated at times, that creates Friendly People’s dense texture.
This is a group of musicians that has a level of skill and confidence at their core that allows them to play, test these experimental structures, and succeed.
Sounds kinda like: alternative folk rock
Why you should care: Since last year, Friendly People has been slowly churning away at a sophomore release. Based on a taste from their latest music video for a “Hello Montana,” they are about to switch things up. The band took a songwriting retreat to Pennsylvania (read as: they went to the woods, turned up their amps, and just let it happen) and recorded a great live video for the track. Taking a turn into the grittier, darker, prog-rock side of things, I can’t wait to hear what else is developing in the studio.
Fun fact: You can support Friendly People and display your love for cute marine life at the same time. Whoa. Now that’s a friendly mana-tee. 😉
Press play: Seriously, listen to “Hello Montana.”
Like what you hear? Catch Friendly People doing an acoustic set at TT’s tonight!
Summer of Aden
w/Friendly People, The Rare Occasions, Forget Forget
Thursday, September 11
TT the Bear’s
10 Brookline Street, Cambridge, MA
8:30 P.M – 18+ – $9