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Caveman Wakes Up

by Friendship

supported by
young brett
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young brett I think this might be my favorite album of all time? Sometimes, I put this thing on full blast and just let it wash over me. It is beautiful and it is heartbreaking. Favorite track: Tree of Heaven.
newcommute
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newcommute Friendship’s Caveman Wakes Up is a gritty, heartfelt slab of country-rock, where Dan Wriggins’ workmanlike baritone hauls raw poetry through dusty riffs and oddball flute bursts, like a factory hand scribbling verses on a smoke break. Favorite track: Love Vape.
pvs_
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pvs_ The three singles are perfect. Resident Evil is the song of the year, 100%. And All over the world - man o man. Hey buddy.
James Champion
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James Champion A rip in a pair of your favorite jeans. A bloody knee, eating a tangerine. The sweet pain of sentimentality. Sing it baby Favorite track: Wildwood in January.
Truman Brady
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Truman Brady Great album! Is it folk music? Is it country? Who knows?! It's good listening and that's what's important. Favorite track: Free Association.
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  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    Purchasable with gift card
    Download available in 24-bit/96kHz.

      $8 USD  or more

     

  • Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

    - Printed lyrics on inner sleeve

    Includes unlimited streaming of Caveman Wakes Up via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    Download available in 24-bit/96kHz.
    ships out within 3 days
    Purchasable with gift card

      $24.98 USD or more 

     

  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    - 4-panel wallet
    - Miniposter with lyrics

    Includes unlimited streaming of Caveman Wakes Up via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    Download available in 24-bit/96kHz.
    ships out within 3 days
    Purchasable with gift card

      $14.98 USD or more 

     

1.
Salvage Title 02:48
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2.
Tree of Heaven 04:37
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3.
Betty Ford 04:25
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4.
Free Association 04:35
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5.
Hollow Skulls 04:53
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6.
Artex 03:08
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7.
Love Vape 03:34
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8.
Wildwood in January 04:30
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9.
Resident Evil 04:13
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10.
All Over the World 05:05
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11.
Fantasia 04:06
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about

An 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 Caveman Wakes Up, Friendship’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, Caveman Wakes Up belongs 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.

credits

released May 16, 2025

Peter Gill: guitar, synth, vibraphone, vox
Michael Cormier-O’Leary: drums, percussion, piano, organ, synth, vibraphone, drum machine, string and woodwind arrangement
Jon Samuels: bass, synth
Dan Wriggins: vox, guitar

Adelyn Strei: flute, clarinet
Jason Calhoun: violin

Recorded by Jeff Zeigler at Uniform Recording in Philadelphia
Additional recording by Bradford Krieger and Lucas Knapp
Mixed by Lucas Knapp
Mastered by Matthew Barnhart

Produced by Friendship
All songs by Dan Wriggins (BMI)

Cover: Matthew Reed, Tenant’s Rights, acrylic on canvas
Design by Daniel Murphy

Major thanks to Lucas, Timm, Geoff, and everyone at Merge. Thanks Owen Ashworth, Meghan Cormier-O’Leary, Frank Meadows, Micah Dornfeld, Karly Hartzman, Jake Lenderman, Nina Ryser, and Colin Miller.

license

all rights reserved

tags

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