Artist: Drug Hunt
Title: “Tristeza”
Label: Blind Owl
Release Date: May 8th, 2019
Drug Hunt emerges from the smoldering embers of Bad Vibes with their new single “Tristeza” off their forthcoming eponymous EP.
With a spiraling tale of addiction-filled, searingly vivid imagery and a mind-bending new sound, “Tristeza” is an electric start to a new chapter in this group’s history. While Bad Vibes embraced the weird with their brand of a filthy, salt-of-the-Earth, barfly ethos, this debut single does more than embrace the weird: it burns the cigarette at both ends and pushes the listener to the edge of breakup deep in the wells of oblivion.
“Tristeza” reflects anguish and resignation, a feigned complicity with addiction, but inasmuch as our protagonist is fighting, it feels performative, containing the sort of self-deluded behavior addicts tell themselves to keep the cognitive dissonance an arm’s length away. It’s a new sound for a band with a new name, but it feels more mature, more wholly formed, and more intentionally developed and cohesive without the insincerity many artists display when creating art about or under the guise of addiction.
While the song is six and a half minutes long, it feels like time stretched on indefinitely, not unlike a trip, but the instrumentation (bongos were a great touch), the musicianship, the lyricism, and vocal mannerisms are all compelling enough to keep this endless song interesting and engaging. It’s an endless journey worth revisiting time and time again.
Drug Hunt have an upcoming show on May 15th with Dead Meadow at the Casbah.