Mentioned in Dispatches: Friends – MilkMaid Merchant

If terms such as “bedroom-pop”, “lo-fi”, and “DIY music” elicit the same reaction in the reader as “mumble rap” and “avant-garde,” i.e. as an excuse to pass off underwhelming and under-produced music as art, then you need a bit of MilkMaid Merchant in your life.

For while Friends can be described in any of those terms I opened with, there is also a poise and polish, a sophistication and a substance (and style too) that not only puts those terms back on the map but also acts as a benchmark that others in those genres would do well to aim for.