Friendship Commanders release Blue, the first single and video from their upcoming body of work, a collection about memory, language, and the state of Massachusetts. Blue's thesis statement is, "If you don't yet have the language for what you want to say, you will."
Songwriter Buick Audra comments: “Writing this project was largely prompted by the suicide of an old Boston friend. When he died, I glanced back at things I’d never wanted to, and I wrote a whole record about it. The process was like going underwater for short bursts and coming back up for air when I needed to. While I was down there, I was like, I suddenly see what all of this was, and I’m going to name it now.”
Blue establishes the mood for the remainder of the project through its broad observations about the burdens to stay, make things work out, and see everything through at any rate. Buick says that the trauma she undergone has since stained her recollections of that period and place, which are all blue, so the color blue is a motif throughout all of the visuals for the record.
Buick Audra offers more detail: “I knew things were bad when I was there, and I was told that I was judgmental. That’s how people spelled ‘honest’ in that particular time and place. I’m lucky that I had the wherewithal to get out and start a new life elsewhere, but I wanted to circle back and say, so can you. If leaving will save your life, get gone. Whatever chapter you’re living through, you can get free. There’s no shame in leaving.”
The video for Blue was shot and directed by drummer and bassist Jerry Roe, who explains: “I wanted the video to present the color blue as a menacing presence with a strange duality. It's beautiful, but it's surrounding us, blinding us, and trying to drown us. Like water and blinding light - things we can't live without but can't be exposed to for too long.”
Kurt Ballou (Converge) co-produced and recorded this new project with the band at his GodCity studio in Salem, Massachusetts. This is the band's third year working with Ballou, who has mixed all of their releases since their 2020 EP, HOLD ON TO YOURSELF.
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