Photo by Shervin Lainez
We're getting pretty used to Aaron Lee Tasjan defying all genres in his music and sounding however he wants song to song, but we weren't expecting his latest single to be a slacker anthem that would make Beck and Pavement proud. "The Drugs Did Me" is about Tasjan's past drug use and his road to sobriety, so it's far more earnest and positive than anything released in the 90's would have been allowed to be. His delivery in the song is very comparable to Beck, but musically it's somehow even more cut and paste than Beck's 90's output, while still being a cohesive song. It's like an alt-country meets electronic music and hip hop mash up that couldn't be made by anyone besides Aaron Lee Tasjan.
Aaron Lee Tasjan says of his latest single:
“‘The Drugs Did Me’ was written about halfway through the recording of the album. I had the whole song demoed as a sort of Nick Lowe/Rockpile type 80s rock song and it was producer Gregory Lattimer's idea to take it into 808 kick drum world and bring the song into the more modern production style of the rest of the record which I'm really glad we did. It was one of those moments where after you hear it for the first time you think, 'Of course! It should have always been this way!' I really liked the idea of adding some organic elements to the track such as the acoustic slide guitar which I played with a bic lighter cause we couldn't find a slide in the studio when we were tracking Drugs haha. Creating music that isn't tied to just one genre is something a lot of my favorite artists have done from Wes Montgomery's Bumpin On Sunset to Beyonce's Renaissance. I always feel inspired to create when I hear masterful musicians go beyond genre in their work to end up with something unique. They become their own genre over time."On a more personal note, I just want to say that the lyrics in this song came from a place of wanting to become a healthier, more present person for myself, everyone whom I love and for my music. I hope this song can be inspiring to anyone who makes the conscious choice to affect change in their own life.”
You can watch the video for "The Drugs Did Me" below. Stellar Evolution is due out April 12 on Blue Elan, and is available for pre-order here. For more on Aaron Lee Tasjan, check out the artist's website. Upcoming tour dates are below the video.
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