Last year, we introduced you to Rx Drugs, the new project of The Championship singer and songwriter Joe Crockett. Save for releasing a single and playing fewer than five shows, the band—which also boasts past and current members of The Promise Ring, Dashboard Confessional, Hugh Bob & The Hustle, Trapper Schoepp And The Shades, and Mike Krol in its ranks—has been in relative seclusion, at least compared to most of its affiliated acts. This week, however, Rx Drugs broke its silence with the surprise release of its moving and marvelous first album, Future Friction.

The 10-song debut is a bleary and devastating continuation of The Championship’s sorrowful 2013 swan song, High Feather. Crockett’s unmistakable velvet voice coats the dreary, largely downtrodden folk-rock compositions with melodies that are mournful (“Gone For Good”), self-reflective (“Everyone Does”), and longing for simpler times (“Over And Over”). With its wandering piano, gentle acoustic strumming, and defeated verses, “The Disaster” projects a somber acceptance of life’s difficulties through a strangely warm lens. Despite the crushing instrumentation and lyrical lamentations that loom large throughout the record’s entirety, Crockett and his all-star cast of collaborators turn in a strong debut that somehow manages to be simultaneously eviscerating and pleasant.

Listen to Future Friction below and download it on Rx Drugs’ Bandcamp page for a pay-what-you-want price.

About The Author

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Co-Founder and Editor

Before co-founding Milwaukee Record, Tyler Maas wrote for virtually every Milwaukee publication (except Wassup! Magazine). He lives in Bay View and enjoys both stuff and things.