Alt-rock catharsis between earth and air.
Nashville duo Friendship Commanders — Buick Audra and Jerry Roe — return with BEAR, their fourth full-length release under Magnetic Eye Records. Co-produced, engineered and mixed by Kurt Ballou, the ten-track record lies in the idea of belonging— where it’s found, and where it’s dissolved.
The lead single “FOUND,” released on September 18, 2025, captures this tension with the refrain: “the only things beneath us were the air and sky above / and the only complications were the dull civilian stuff.” The lyric suspends the listener between the infinite and the ordinary, rendering belonging as a fragile midpoint rather than a destination. Fittingly, it appears near the album’s end, reframing “FOUND” not as resolution, but recognition.
“KEEPING SCORE” opens BEAR in a haze, echoing the sharp edge of ‘90s alt-rock urgency. The line “put a lock on myself” captures self-containment as both discipline and defense. “DRAIN” follows almost imperceptibly, continuing the exhaustion and self-surveillance introduced before it — a track that circles its own fatigue until weariness becomes form.
“DRIPPING SILVER” shifts the rhythm into a downtempo groove, letting space and distortion carry the emotional aspects. The metallic imagery evokes both fragility and endurance, while Audra’s raspy vocal performance feels torn between abrasion and grace.
The middle of the record opens with “MELT,” where heavy riffs melt into themselves, and “NEW,” a buoyant interlude that offers brief reprieve. “NEW” stands out for its head-bopping rhythm and sentimental chorus, its sense of acceptance landing at the exact midpoint of the album — perhaps suggesting that belonging, if found at all, must pass through motion.
“X” and “MIDHEAVEN” return to heavier territory. “X” marks the record’s heaviest moment. Angsty and densely layered, the song wields distortion as emotional punctuation. “MIDHEAVEN” returns to a more conventional grunge-rock form, leaning into a familiar grunge-rock sound — thick electric guitar and a predictable tempo — but the layered harmonies that rise by the two-minute mark elevate the track beyond its structure.
“IMPERFECT” and “FOUND” form the emotional heart of BEAR. The former builds toward overlapping ad-libs that blur identity and closure, while the latter reframes that chaos as clarity. The record concludes with “DEAD & DISCARDED GIRLS,” its eerie stillness punctured by a sudden electric riff and the defiant cry, “maybe there is a place for us.”
In the end, BEAR is not about comfort but confrontation — the friction within the self and the sound, belonging and release. Friendship Commanders turn heaviness into a form of meditation, proving that noise can carry grace. BEAR doesn’t only ask where we belong, but also whether belonging was ever meant to be still at all.
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