By The End of Comedy is the debut album by Drugdealer, a new project conceived and conducted by Los Angeles artist Michael Collins (formerly of Run DMT, Salvia Plath) who guides a group of Angelenos including Ariel Pink and Natalie Mering (Weyes Blood) through a whimsical world informed by Jean Baudrillard, social media perception, Sergio Leone’s spaghetti western vistas and Collins’s endless travels.
The first single from the album is ‘Suddenly’ featuring Weyes Blood – the video for which was recently released.
The End of Comedy – to be released through Weird World on September 9th – is a collection of vignettes – lucid, lysergic and organic – featuring homespun explorations of Carole King-esque piano ballads, Bacharach-ian orchestration, the psych-folk of Ultimate Spinach and Hendrickson Road House and even New York City subway jazz, all pulled together by Collins’s deft AOR auteurship and keen sense of humour.
Throughout the record, Collins eschews the spotlight, in favour letting the ensemble shine. There are guest vocals from Ariel Pink (‘Easy to Forget’), Danny James (‘My Life’) and Natalie Mering (Weyes Blood), who brings Laurel Canyon balladry to the table on the album’s titular track. Not to mention a bona fide who’s who of Collins’s mates, including members of Regal Degal, Holy Shit!, Mild High Club, Mr. Twin Sister and pals from Mac DeMarco’s band.
All of these collaborators contribute essential bits and pieces that create the foundations of a beautiful, absurdist collection of songs that plays like a short film in which Collins journeys far and wide, popping into various abodes, embracing friends old and new and casting a spell on them and us in turn.
Tracklist:
1. Theme From Rockaway
2. The Real World (ft. Sheer Agony)
3. Suddenly (ft. Weyes Blood)
4. Easy To Forget (ft. Ariel Pink)
5. Were You Saying Something?
6. Theme For Alessandro
7. It’s Only Raining Right Where You’re Standing
8. The End Of Comedy (ft. Weyes Blood)
9. Sea Of Nothing
10. My Life (ft. Danny James)
11. The End
The End of Comedy will be released as a CD, LP and digitally on Friday 9th September and is available to pre-order now on iTunes. All pre-orders come with the instant download of the deceptively named yet beautiful new single ‘Suddenly’ so be sure to get yours right away! Alternatively, you can stream ‘Suddenly’ on Soundcloud and Spotify.
