Weakened Friends

Riding in on the wave of ’90s alt-rock revivalism, Weakened Friends molded their influences into a fresh expression of the mid-twenties experience. Emerging in the late 2010s, the trio swiftly made their mark, collecting an award for their early efforts and snagging a spot at SXSW before they put out their debut record. Common Blah arrived in 2018 and illustrated how the band’s rhythm section anchors rousing hooks facilitated by Sonia Sturino’s expressive vocals. Weakened Friends began as an outlet for Sturino’s writing. She and drummer Cam Jones were members of Box Tiger before they branched off with bassist Annie Hoffman to form their own trio in 2015 in Portland, Maine. With all the bandmembers living together and rehearsing in their basement, the group quickly produced original material, and their first single, “Won Yet,” was released in 2015. Later that year, they followed up that initial track with their Gloomy Tunes EP. A further EP — the six-track Crushed — appeared in 2016, and the results of their labor landed them the Best Unsigned Artist of the Year Award at the 2017 Boston Music Awards as well as a spot at the SXSW Music Festival in Austin, Texas. Capitalizing on the exposure, the band put out the track “Hate Mail” as the first taste of their debut record, which featured Dinosaur Jr.’s J Mascis. Starry guest spots aside, the members continued to work their part-time jobs alongside their increasingly successful band endeavors. Although Sturino worked at a glass cleaning company, Hoffman had part-time roles at the Berklee College of Music and Zippah Recording, and Jones worked at a Portland kitchen, the trio managed to find the time to write and record their debut full-length. While the record shared a sonic affinity with ’90s alt-rock bands like Veruca Salt, Sturino’s animated approach to sour relationships lent the album a renewed, contemporary perspective. Common Blah was produced and engineered by Hoffman and released via Don Giovanni in 2018. ~ Bekki Bemrose