Drugs to Make You Sober has all the dynamics to blow your mind in an effortless way. Made in bedrooms and basements, Jeremiah Nelson’s album manipulates all forms of sound to produce a pure, sobering trip.
“Nothin’ to Lose” stretches beyond the boundaries of consciousness with psychedelic sounds and soothing beats. Speaking in relative terms, Inception‘s Leonardo DiCaprio would calmly drift away into limbo after a quick listen. But the brilliance of Nelson’s album is that amongst the songs, there is a noticeable split between the trippy and the simple vintage sounds. Supernatural noises blend to perfection in “Nothin’ to Lose.” Conversely, in “Skin to Touch,” the melodious harmonica works wonders. This switch to sounding like a classic driving song with simple and relatable lyrics expands Nelson’s horizons, fostering hints of Bob Dylan.
Until “Floodplain V2,” drowning has never felt so good. Stuck in whammy, this song carries you through a wave of your own colorful emotions. Mesmerizing. Thought-provoking. Awakening. Title cut “Drugs to Make You Sober” possesses all the above. A rusty swing screeching takes the form of a jazzy guitar riff, which then builds to an explosive chorus that kicks you out of hallucination. It is as if the band holds a buried secret that you must dig to find beneath this song’s jumbled yet completely fitting sounds.
To predict Jeremiah Nelson’s next move is impossible. The Madison musician and his friends on Drugs to Make You Sober are so versatile and creative that it is hard enough to categorize their recording as a single genre. But listen in to what he has come up with so far, as it will surely impress the widest range of listeners.