Friendship Commanders are excited to announce their new album Bear out October 10 on their new label home Magnetic Eye Records. The duo is giving fans a taste of their forthcoming LP with the songs, “Keeping Score” and “Melt.”

Bear was co-produced by band members Buick Audra (guitars, vocals) and Jerry Roe (drums, bass) along with their longtime collaborator, Kurt Ballou, who also tracked the instrumental performances and mixed the record.

The dual singles illustrate the tonal expansiveness contained within the ten-track body of work; there is heaviness and also a kind of lightness. “Keeping Score” sees songwriter Buick Audra confront cycles of women injuring girls due to being threatened by their existence, something she experienced personally. “MELT” addresses the loneliness and confusion that comes with being rejected by members of one’s own gender in adulthood.

Buick Audra on the new tracks:

“”KEEPING SCORE’ was the first song written for BEAR. I think of it as the mother of the album. When I was a kid, the mother of my best friend, a boy, singled me out as a problem for her son and all the other boys in our skateboarding crew. She was afraid I was corrupting them somehow. She called around and spread non-truths about me to the other parents, some of whom I’d never met. It was devastating, humiliating beyond words. Years later, I realized women in my own generation were doing the same thing to little girls who knew their sons. Little girls! Age seven, eight! Being called “hussies” by grown women! Color me horrified. Color me involved. Now that I can speak for myself, I will also speak for girls like me. Someone should. The propulsive riff on this song is my war cry.”

“”MELT” is about realizing I’ve never really fit with my own kind, something I’ve only come to terms with in the last two years or so. I’ve spent so much time and energy trying to be a woman among women, but at the end of the day, I’m just always over here being too loud. Too much. And yet, somehow also not enough. It’s a stunning paradox. Musically, the song has a sugary quality to it, which is also referenced in the line, ‘that’s how they punch you, sugar over fists.’ This track beats me up because it’s so painfully true, but it’s also a delight to play.”

Friendship Commanders drummer and bassist Jerry Roe on the tracks:

“These songs were so exciting to hear when Buick played them for me for the first time – pretty unlike anything we’d ever done up to this point in terms of energy and propulsion. Our music has tended to move either fast or slow while somehow feeling heavy at all times, and these songs lean and move forward in a way that’s much brighter and quite joyful, even through the subject matter. To play them almost feels like being flown through the air towards a gigantic bullseye made of fiery confetti! I can’t wait to play this new album live.”

Friendship Commanders
Bear
track list

1. KEEPING SCORE
2. DRAIN
3. DRIPPING SILVER
4. MELT
5. NEW
6. X
7. MIDHEAVEN
8. IMPERFECT
9. FOUND
10. DEAD & DISCARDED GIRLS

Pre-order Bear by Friendship Commanders HERE