DROL: Music for a bleeding world
July 29th - Written by Ellis Brown
This is DROL, a new music project spearheaded by T (@burntreceipt) and Luca (@333skeem555), who have previously released solo projects that London music heads will definitely recognise, dancing around the underground and squat scenes.
We were graciously given early access to their upcoming singles, Surge / Play (Launching 30th July), which act as one winding story, the paths intertwined as the tracks spill into each other. The sound is familiar, yet brand new, drenched in synths, dark resonance that envelopes the listener from the start, feeling both like a bitter-sweet optimism of an 80s action flick, and a broken futuristic city. Fans of Dean Blunt’s work with World Music, Manchester performance artists Blackhaine, Rainy Miller and Iceboy Violet, as well as the electronic elements from Yeezus, will love their sound, raw emotion blasting at you, unapologetically.
The lyrics paint a turbulent picture, starting jubilantly at the beginning of Surge, “This feeling is greater than words, I can’t hide my surge, I’m born again”, emulating the experience of an acid or ecstasy high, chaotic yet joyous. This plays out alongside the synth chords, which feel triumphant and optimistic, yet could turn at any moment. This chaos is amplified in the line “Come pick me up, my love”, an ambiguous double meaning could refer to a physical interaction, longing for a partner to appear, or potentially be addressing a feeling or a pill, a pick-me-up remedy.
As we lead into play, the high wears off, and it’s back to reality. The double meaning alluded to in the lyrics paints a picture of addressing the feelings themselves as well as this ghostly relationship that is danced around throughout the tracks. With the calls of ‘I’m tired, I’ve been trying to play’, the tone shifts, reflected in the chords and sound of the track as well, a much grungier and less optimistic feel to ‘Play’. The track plays out with a multitude of double entendres between a current love and drugs; “Repent to anything that's ever been green… smoke away the scenes”, all of this while the sirens wail in the background. It’s a dark yet hopeful feeling coming out the back of the second track, and like the drugs it hints at, I am addicted and longing for more. This is no doubt the start of something bigger.
This contrast is emphasised in the different vocal styles and inflexions used, the juxtaposing raspy spoken word and rap from one side, and a different voice, one more steeped in classic goth and indie tonality. This is what DROL is at its core, inspired by a multitude of genres while still feeling quintessentially British at heart.
BP:
Were the tracks always meant to play into each other and be linked or should they be taken as separate, where the sound is what brings them together?
T:
“In times like these, unsteady, stretched thin, something always rises sonically. Surge / Play came from that space. written as a pair, they speak the same language. There’s this sense of motion you can’t stop, a push and pull between clarity and collapse.
Surge is a reaction to the indescribable. It spirals through the kind of loops we all recognise: loss, return, repetition, but never lands in one place. It’s about the things we keep circling, even as they shift form.
Play exists in the same weather system, but it’s more internal. It’s about surrendering to what can’t be controlled. There’s a moment when pressure turns into numbness, when focus becomes tunnel vision—like walking a slackline with no room for distraction. There’s “no mind to pay”. Eventually, this wears thin. What’s left after that is up to the listener.
The connection lies in the feeling more than the form, as DROL will fall suit; you will always have to read between the lines…”
BP:
Where can people find your upcoming stuff? And are there any of your previous projects you would want people to check out too?
T:
“We will be playing on Trauma Unit Radio in the coming month. You can expect to hear some unreleased bits on there, and what projects? I don’t know what you are on about…”
Quotes from interview with T (@burntreceipt)
All images from the upcoming DROL music video
