Drinker (AKA Aaron Mendelsohn and Ariel Loh) are among Vehlinggo‘s favorite acts of the past several years. Their latest single, “Even If I Know,” is a beautiful blend of propulsive rhythms, beautiful synthscapes, and entrancingly laid-back vocals.
Drinker’s ability to derive musical profundity — and unbridled energy — from minimalist arrangements is well-established and is not absent on “Even If I Know.” This time, though, there’s even more of the delectably cinematic foreboding and crescendo that drives their recent compositions.
An added bonus for today is the song’s mesmerizing new music video. It’s stunning. Credit goes to director, photographer, and editor Tyler Byrnes, along with Dorian Carli-Jones, who did the stop-motion animation and fabrication. The video was produced by Polygraphic Productions
Here’s what Mendelsohn had to say about the song in a recent press release:
“Even If I Know” started to take shape at the end of a week-long writing trip. After spending a couple of days with a song we ended up bailing on, we wanted to take a new direction with this and not force it into a traditional songwriting mold. We had been listening to a lot of Ry X and Rival Consoles at the time and started to focus on making a dark, dance track.
The song explores existential themes like self-acknowledgement and emotional detachment. Setting these self-reflective lyrics against this instrumental, which we had created in an entirely different headspace, we found an incongruity that was surprisingly harmonious.
For Ariel and me, in our process of collaborating from opposite coasts, we are both able to bring a lot of our individuality into Drinker. A lot of the times the product isn’t just the distillation of time spent working together, but rather the product of our separate journeys in different places, and it always produces surprises. “Even If I Know” is an exciting step for us on this path as we find ways to coexist under one roof from such a great distance apart.
Drinker are releasing a new EP entitled They Don’t Want To Know in early summer via B3SCI Records.
Want more Drinker? Check out this interview with them from 2017, when they released their EP Happy Accidents. Not long before that, I declared them possibly your next favorite band. Also, check our their first full-length album, Fragments. And don’t miss their KILLER remix of Memoryy — one of my all-time favorite remixes.
