Written by Written by @bryce
Intro and History
If you read my under 1 million artist feature on Field Medic (which you totally should if you haven’t) then you know that I’ve been looking forward to this release for a while. dope girl chronicles is the artist’s second release this year and it’s just as good as the last one. The trap sound he developed in the last release is gone here. This album goes back to his roots, with a more goth, emo, kind of scary, but still very folky sound. And I love that!
Dope Girl Chronicles is a record Field Medic hinted at a show six or seven years ago. He teased it as a joke when he performed his song “do a little dope”, which you can hear in the song “do a little dope (Live)” off his release “Songs from the Sunroom”. He says “This song is called ‘do a little dope’. It’s off an album called ‘dope girl chronicles’ coming out in 2023.” Many people thought it was just a joke, and he probably thought that too. But, as fans became more familiar with the song as it became a staple of his live performances. The joke continued for a long time after that.. Now here we are at the tail end of 2023, and it’s finally here.
The album kind of feels like a callback to the earlier years of Field Medic’s career. It sounds much more like what he was first known for, especially when compared to the last release. It also returns to a subject matter and headspace that’s more comparable to his older releases. In recent years, Field Medic has had a bit of a focus on sobriety, and mental health. And that’s still here, but I’d say the focus is mostly on relationships and love.
Analysis
It’s a bit of a stark difference when you compare it to something like “grow your hair long if you’re wanting to see something that you can change” which was definitely more about emerging from darkness and healing mentally. But on this album, you have tracks like “silver Girl” which tells a story about confessing feelings that aren’t reciprocated, he low-key gets friend-zoned. He details complicated relationships on tracks like “clear thoughts of morning” and “love don’t come” where he struggles to love. It’s tough stuff.
And then after that stretch, we get to the song we were given all those years ago, “do a little dope”. We already had the live version of this song released, but now we have a recorded version with a full backing instrumental rather than just him and his guitar, and it’s higher fidelity. It’s interesting to hear the difference between what his original performance was like compared to what it is now. It also sounds more like this if you see him live nowadays because now he tours with a full band. It’s interesting stuff though, and it’s fun to see his promise from the original tease come to fruition.
After that is one of my favorite songs on the album, and it’s an instrumental track titled “intermission” and I just wanna talk about it real quick because I think this guy is a crazy talented guitarist, and this one is a really fun example of that. It’s got some really speedy and impressive fingerpicking rhythms and really interesting chord movements. It really contributes to the kind of spooky vibe that’s going on in this album, when it ends with super strong dissonance just making you feel kind of uneasy.
Conclusion
And that’s where I’m gonna end the analysis. I’m gonna leave the songs I didn’t talk about yet for you to listen, because they’re probably my favorites on the album and I just want you to experience it. Overall, it’s a really good project! I loved listening to it, and I’ve listened to it many, many times now during the process of writing this. I think it covers the subject he’s chosen to tackle well, and I love the sound of it. It’s got such a good, cold, and spooky vibe that I’m a huge fan of.
I love the beginning, I love the middle, and I love the end. It’s a good listen. The title track “dope girl”, is such a banger that gets stuck in my head, the dissonance of the intermission gives me chills, and the emotional storytelling on some of the tracks really resonates with me. I hope you give it a spin! You can listen to it below, and make sure to check out some of our other album reviews!
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