Field Medic, i.e., Los Angeles-based singer/songwriter Kevin Patrick Sullivan, has shared the second single from his forthcoming album grow your hair long if you’re wanting to see something that you can change (Oct. 14, Run For Cover Records). “i think about you all the time” is a jangly folk-pop ode to the insidiousness of addiction, in which Sullivan reimagines his struggles with sobriety as a torch song about longing to lose himself at the bottom of a bottle.
“‘i think about you all the time’ is a love song to alcohol & younger days. It’s a sort of sequel to my song ‘i will not mourn who i was that has gone away,’” Sullivan explains in a statement. “I was struggling in my sobriety with some difficult life situations & wished I had the option of pressing the off switch that binge drinking has afforded me in the past.”
“I had just written a song called ‘I hate being sober,’ which was a pretty negative way to frame the subject, so I set out to make a song that spoke of my longing in a way that sounded light & sweet,” he continues. “I wanted it to sound like a love song so it could speak to anyone who’s missing anything, be it a person or in my case; a substance.”
“Light and sweet” is right: Between its bright instrumentation and Sullivan’s unrelenting vocal hooks, “i think about you all the time” is sure to lodge itself in your head one way or another. Over a drum machine beat and cheery acoustic chords, Sullivan sings, as if to a long-distance lover, “I think about you often / When I close my eyes / You tumble like an acrobat / through my dreams at night.” Gradually building out the track with a melodic bass line, banjo backing, distorted electric guitar flourishes and tambourine, Sullivan keeps the song’s energy unerringly upbeat in spite of the living hell it belies, the kind of feat Field Medic makes seem so easy whenever he pushes “record.”
“i think about you all the time” follows lead grow your hair long single “i had a dream that you died,” both of which rely on Sullivan’s “darkly charming humor that can make even the toughest of truths easier to swallow,” as Jade Gomez wrote of the latter track.
In October, Field Medic heads out on a fall headlining North American tour, featuring the first full-band accompaniment of his career (as well as his trusty boombox), with support from Sadurn, Derek Ted and Juliet Sunflower.
Listen to “I think about you all the time” and Field Medic’s 2019 Paste Studio session below.
Field Medic Tour Dates:
September
21 – London, UK @ Camden Assembly
October
22 – San Francisco, CA @ Bottom Of The Hill $
25 – Portland, OR @ Polaris Hall $
26 – Seattle, WA @ Barboza $
28 – Salt Lake City, UT @ Beehive $
30 – Denver, CO @ Globe Hall $
November
01 – Minneapolis, MN @ 7th Street Entry $
02 – Chicago, IL @ Beat Kitchen $
03 – Columbus, OH @ Ace Of Cups $
04 – Ferndale, MI @ The Loving Touch $
05 – Lakewood, OH @ Mahall’s $
06 – Toronto, ON @ The Garrison $
08 – Philadelphia, PA @ PhilaMOCA $
09 – Boston, MA @ Red Room at Cafe 939 $ [SOLD OUT]
10 – Brooklyn, NY @ Baby’s All Right $
11 – Washington, DC @ Songbyrd $
12 – Richmond, VA @ Richmond Music Hall at Capital Ale House $
14 – Carrboro, NC @ Cat’s Cradle $
15 – Atlanta, GA @ The Masquerade – Purgatory $
16 – Nashville, TN @ The End $
18 – Dallas, TX @ Ruins %
19 – Austin, TX @ Empire Control Room %
22 – Phoenix, AZ @ The Rebel Lounge %
26 – Los Angeles, CA @ Moroccan Lounge # [SOLD OUT]
27 – Los Angeles, CA @Moroccan Lounge %
($ support from Sadurn)
(% support from Derek Ted)
(# support from Juliet Sunflower)