Last November we shared ‘Poolside’, a single by Drench Fries which offered the “first taste of this newly communal form” of the outfit. Ostensibly the solo project of Brooklyn-based songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Levi Nattrass, Drench Fries has carved out a niche within a country-inflected indie pop, with singles like ‘Out My Window’ offering equal doses classic western longing and a more coastal sense of brightness and pep. And Nattrass’s decision to open up the outfit to outside collaborators only pushed this sound further, deepening the sound’s richness without losing that personal charm.
Latest single ‘In the weeds’ continues this process. Nattrass provides vocals, guitar, bass, keys, synthesizers and percussion, and is joined by Evan House (drums), Kyle Musselwhite (pedal steel) and Elyse Lankford (vocals), as well as additional production from House and Alex Heubel. The track finds Drench Fries at its most vivid and enveloping. A song once again wrapped in wistful nostalgia though certainly not rooted to the spot. Something of a sonic road trip fuelled by yearning, as though a movement into the future is driven only by the unshakeable desire to recapture days now gone.
It’s rainin’ so hard I can barely see
but “if its good for the grass, then its good for me”
I tell myself
bitterly
I’m a vine tangled up in a thousand weeds
I’ll spend a lifetime lookin’ for that golden tree
I know it’s there
waiting for me