By Bryan Ahearn
On their third album, “MASS,” Friendship Commanders—the Nashville rock duo of vocalist/guitarist Buick Audra and drummer/bassist Jerry Roe—return with gale-force grunge anthems and cathartic, tear-down lyrics, fashioning this album into a restoration project for the ages.
Score: 5/5
On the surface, MASS is described as a concept record about memory, language, and the state of Massachusetts. Dive deeper, though, and this is one of those albums that could apply to anyone, anytime, anywhere. And, all over again.
MASS is an exploration of devastation, reclamation and beauty, set amidst a backdrop of grunge-drenched chords and powerhouse female vocals. Yes, it’s every bit as good as it sounds—and the lyrics read.
Opening with the buzzy guitar-chorded “Blue”, Buick begins her spellbinding sway of lyrical prowess, set against mounting currents of deliciously frothy guitar distortion and dusted with Jerry’s perfectly droning drum rhythm. As Buick smolders “there is something dangerous about the narrative that a life is only measured by what’s surrounding it”, she soon erupts into:
“The sky was blue in Massachusetts, the sky was grey inside my head.”
Similar uprising follows in “Fail”, where Buick threads her way through soul-bearing verses before crashing through with a “and we fail a little at a time we fail who we love” stomp-box of a sing-a-along of a chorus, before “High Sun” showers us with some of Buick’s more uplifting tonality, a refreshing dynamic to a complicated wealth of emotions throughout the album.
“Vampire” rises next from the track list, with plenty of guitar fuzz to conceal the fangs of its sharply-defiant chorus “if the blood flows, you rely on me!”; where “Still Life” rolls through with pummeling, Foo Fighters-esque drum lines and trademark fantastically soaring vocals that have well-taken hold halfway through the album.
The standout track “We Were Here,” follows, an unbridled moment of vulnerability and power, as Buick howls:
“I lived in constant fear I was unlovable.”
All this, against a bubbling cauldron of guitar buzz, rolling drum punches and then the rapturously soaring bridge “and the history calls my name (I hear them) and I’ll never be the—“.
One could one guess the missing word was “same,” as with “Distortion,” “Retraction” and “Move,” that songwriter/author Buick was who she once was, but “the distortion lies in feeling that I need to be okay.”
And this is the beauty in her artistry: A rise-from-the-ashes moment from an album that in all honesty, delivers them in spades through some fantastic soundscapes, and, shows listeners a way out, or, at the very least, a place at the table.
Because as Buick rations in the closing track, “Dissonance,” in spoke word:
“(I wanted to show you): How two things can be true at the same time. How doing your best and living your worst can coexist in the same second, same breath.”
It’s an amazing concept when artists inspire a sense of belonging, in this case, even among, non-Massachusettsans. Buick Audra and Jerry Roe do just that when they arrive triumphantly to shore with MASS—a resounding, well-produced sonic-canvas of wickedly-affirming grunge, and it’s a must-add to your 2023 Best-Of-Rock lists.
Tour info & various album bundles available at:
https://www.friendshipcommandersband.com
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