Just three months after his amazing Secret Admirer EP, Alex Amesbury returns as Drug Bug with a baroque pop-like continuation that is even better. So much is going on in the three new songs on the Grapefruit Technique EP (I can’t choose, so I’m sharing all three below), and it is all equally appealing. Yes, it is quite lo-fi, but beneath the noise you’ll hear clever arrangements and earworm melodies full of Beatlesque psychedelia and Beach Boys-indebted harmonies.

Emotional disintegration runs through the lyrics, capturing the searching uncertainty of young adulthood: fractured relationships, obsessive longing, loneliness, and the inability to let go are expressed through raw, confessional poetry that blurs the line between devotion and self-destruction (“Poor me, I’m falling down to the ground level”). It’s wrapped in surreal everyday imagery, dark humor, and references to sensitive numbness, fitting the intuitive and inspired music.

Grapefruit Technique—performed, produced, and mixed by Alex Drug (vocals, guitars, bass, drums, drum machine, tambourine)—is out digitally (self-released).

Add to wantlist: Bandcamp