The third and most seasoned Drugdealer album, Hiding In Plain Sight, almost didn't happen at all. Frustrated and insecure with his own singing voice prior to the pandemic, Drugdealer founder and primary songwriter Michael Collins was nearly ready to throw in the towel. With hits like "Suddenly" and "The Real World" (from the band's 2016 debut, The End Of Comedy) and "Honey" (from their first album for Mexican Summer, 2019's Raw Honey), Collins had plenty to be happy about. But due to a frequent impulse to hand over the microphone to friends and collaborators like Weyes Blood, Jackson MacIntosh, and his trusty musical companion Sasha Winn, Collins became increasingly unsure of himself as a singer. Then, amidst the windswept art colony of Marfa, Texas, a chance encounter with the visionary artist and composer Annette Peacock changed his outlook.
While attending Mexican Summer's annual Marfa Myths festival, Collins ran into Peacock backstage. "I was so inspired by [Annette]. But similarly to all these other vocalists I'd worked with, I didn't feel like I had it in me." he recalls. "I told her my plight, then I played her a song, and she told me I wasn't singing high enough for my speaking voice. When I returned to LA, I started coming up with new progressions, which I'd modulate up three half steps. It forced me to find a new way to sing."
In the valley of the shadow of doubt, during a period when Collins was considering giving up on music and embarking on his lifelong dream of filmmaking, a furtive conversation with a legend allowed him to find his own distinctive voice. But, as the title implies, the lockdown era during which Collins wrote the bulk of the record was a time spent searching for answers – searching for love. "Madison," the opening track on Hiding In Plain Sight, is the first song Collins wrote singing in this suggested range. His newfound confidence as a yarn-spinning vocalist in the gruff tenor tradition of Nick Lowe, or even Van Morrison, is readily apparent, with Conor "Catfish" Gallaher's pedal steel adding a dusting of cosmic country to Collins' down-hard love song.
But it truly takes a village to put together Drugdealer records. The Greek term for love of friends, philia, translating to "the highest form of love," is evident in a deep cast of characters including Drugdealer band members Mikey Long, MacIntosh and Josh Da Costa (CMON), as well as Southland virtuosos like John Carroll Kirby (Frank Ocean, Stones Throw) and Daryl Johns (Mac DeMarco, The Lemon Twigs). Tim Presley sings on the second song, "Baby." Meanwhile, Kate Bollinger floats an effervescent lead vocal over the Rhodes-driven groove in "Pictures of You." As usual, Collins wrangled a who's who of background singers and instrumentalists to carry out Hiding In Plain Sight's vision. Mainly, however, the record acts as a welcome showcase for Collins as an emboldened lead singer, a wayward bandleader who has found a way to love himself as a singer, songwriter and storyteller.
Ultimately, Hiding In Plain Sight is an odyssey from philautia – the ability to love oneself – to philia, a greater ability to love and embrace the contributions of those around you. Only then does a path clear for an encompassing and passionate romantic love, eros. Ultimately, Collins finds love all around and, finally, feels in possession of the voice to sing about it, resulting in the most joyful and fully-realized Drugdealer album to date. Hiding In Plain Sight is the sound of Michael Collins and Drugdealer getting their groove back.
- Madison
- Baby (ft. Tim Presley)
- Someone to Love
- Pictures of You (ft. Kate Bollinger)
- New Fascination
- Valentine
- To Live and Drive in LA
- Hard Dreaming Man
- Posse Cut (ft. Bambina, Sedona, Sean Nicholas Savage)