FLORRY:A far cry from the cool, calculated distance and reserved posture that is all-too-familiar to the indie-rock sphere, Florry, the Philly-bred septet and songwriting vehicle of bandleader Francie Medosch, are marking their territory as a band resolving to do something very different: they are having a really good time out there.Cutting her teeth in the Philadelphia DIY scene starting in 2019 as a student at Temple University, the early days of Florry found Medosch at the end of her teenage years releasing a slew of singles and EP’s in a familiar idiom of lo-fi bedroom recordings tinged with country melancholy. A lot has changed since then. Most importantly, perhaps, the project snowballed into a barn-burning seven piece rock band in the proceeding years; and without sacrificing any of the emotional immediacy that's come to define Medosch’s brashly earnest, bleeding-heart lyrical style, you’re unlikely to find her lingering as much on the melancholy these days. Or, as Medosch plainly puts it in regards to Sounds Like… , the band’s forthcoming LP: “The Jackass theme song was actually a really big influence on the new album”FRIENDSHIP:Music 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 new album and second 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.DEVIN CHAMPLIN:Devin Champlin is a songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, luthier and artist from Northwestern Washington. As the frontman/songwriter for Sons Of Rainier (along with bandmates Dean Johnson, Sam Gelband, and Charlie Meyer) he has carved out a unique voice in the contemporary indy-folk americana world. Intimate lyrics filled with optimistic existentialism are unhurriedly sung with a woodgrain baritone over fingerpicked guitar, the occasional elbow fiddle or keyboard. He prefers not to lean too hard into any specific genre, although he's satisfied with the umbrella term "folk" as the idea of non-commercial music made by people for the people. He's spent the better part of two decades studying traditional American musical styles, specifically country blues guitar and old time fiddle tunes, learning from old source recordings, elders in the scene, and the festival/camp community. Along with that cultural musical nerdery he has a prolific output of original music. As an artist with a DIY aesthetic, he uses songcraft as a medium to create imagery- along those lines he also produces animations, videos, paintings, drawings, and prints in tandem with his musical output. Keeping the audience (and himself) on their toes, he rarely plays the same thing twice- sometimes it may seem as if the wheels are about to fall off, but the train stays on the tracks and it's a satisfying roll. His recordings, solo and with Sons Of Rainier have found their way into the permanent library of hobos, widows, fry cooks, and fancy pants alike. In addition to his 2 releases with Sons Of Rainier he has a handful of self-released full length solo albums out, including one all instrumental album recorded on an Amtrak train, and the most recently released Lonesome Splendor In The Circus Tent (2024).