Description
The third and most seasoned Drugdealer album, Hiding In Plain Sight, almost didnt happen at all. Frustrated and insecure with his own singing voice prior to the pandemic, Drugdealer founder and primary songwriter Michael Collins was nearly ready to throw in the towel. Due to a frequent impulse to hand over the microphone to friends and collaborators like Weyes Blood, Jackson MacIntosh, and his trusty musical companion Sasha Winn, Collins became increasingly unsure of himself as a singer. While attending Mexican Summers annual Marfa Myths festival, a chance encounter with artist and composer Annette Peacock changed his outlook. Collins says, I was so inspired by [Annette]. But similarly to all these other vocalists Id worked with, I didnt feel like I had it in me. he recalls. I told her my plight, then I played her a song, and she told me I wasnt singing high enough for my speaking voice. When I returned to LA, I started coming up with new progressions, which Id modulate up three half steps. It forced me to find a new way to sing. Madison, is the first song Collins wrote singing in this suggested range. His newfound confidence as a yarn-spinning vocalist in the gruff tenor tradition of Nick Lowe, or even Van Morrison, is readily apparent, with Conor Catfish Gallahers pedal steel adding a dusting of cosmic country to Collins down-hard love song. When Collins wrote the would-be AM Gold hit, he was summoning an imaginary vision of a love that had eluded him in reality. Tim Presley sings on the second song, Baby, and Collins had a clear role in mind for the California avant-rock mainstay. I love White Fence so much, but I also wanted to hear Presley sing a song that sounded like an early 60s sock hop band who had never tried drugs in their life. Meanwhile, Kate Bollinger floats an effervescent lead vocal over the Rhodes-driven groove in Pictures of You.. Taking inspiration from a canon of gruff but soulful rock vocalists like Phil Lynott, Collins looks back on his nocturnal meanderings through LAs warrens of bars and clubs (New Fascination). Hes right up front in the mix, detailing a search for love in all the wrong places.
Reviews
There are no reviews yet.