Songwriter Aaron Mendelsohn and producer Ariel Loh are the bi-coastal duo behind Drinker. The two originally connected over their shared influences while both were living in Brooklyn and have been creating moody trip-hop since.
Following ‘Even If I Know’, they’ve now shared their second new single Stay. With an ambient pulse, it feels like a peek from the cold veil of chaos that surrounds us. Speaking on the inspiration and process, Mendelsohn says:
‘Stay’ came together one afternoon when we were working at Ariel’s place in Astoria last December. I had just gotten back from playing some shows in Europe and was in New York for a bit on my way back to LA.
We revisited an old verse — a melody we both loved — that had never found its chorus.
Playing it on Ariel’s Wurlitzer I got through the verse and as I kept playing, the chords to the next section just found themselves in that moment. The lyric, which starts “keep disorder, stay off in your corner” felt like maybe it was too cerebral of an idea for a song. I was feeling unsure about pushing as far in that direction as my mind had wanted to take it, but began to feel a sense of balance taking hold as the simple statement “I wanna stay” seemed to ground the song while embracing all the chaos and struggle laid out in the verses.
Drinker’s ‘They Don’t Want To Know’ EP is due out this summer.