You Are Never Alone by Bicentennial Drug Lord is a slow-burning, frostbitten Americana dream with ten tracks of indie warmth and winter introspection wrapped in equal parts humor, heartbreak, and raw humanity. Recorded at Ashevilleโs Drop of Sun Studios with producer Alex Farrar (MJ Lenderman, Wednesday), the album gets behind surviving long Midwestern winters with a beer in one hand and a guitar in the other.
Opening track โThis Pabst Blue Ribbonโ eases listeners in with gently strummed guitars and a weathered, lived-in, grainy, high and husky voice. Itโs a song about loneliness that never feels lonely, soaked in the kind of poetic melancholy that turns a cheap beer into a sacred ritual. The harmonies merge with the soundscape and bring an immersiveness to the music.
On โLike An Accident,โ the band leans into chiming guitars and glistening cymbals. The song is sonorous and sweet, like a memory you keep replaying just to stay grounded. The gentle confidence in the delivery gives it emotional weight without ever feeling forced.
By the time we reach the closer, โThe Gates of Headley Grange,โ Bicentennial Drug Lord has fully delivered on their promise of a hopeful, literary take on communal existence. The song opens soothingly, carried through snowy air, before slowly building into a full-bodied crescendo of grinding guitars, echoing vocals, and hazy percussion.
With You Are Never Alone, BDL gives you indie rock with a Midwestern, weathered, wise, and warm soul.
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Review by: Naomi Joan