Peter Drucker, who makes atmospheric indie folk as Drucker, has made a beautiful little seven-song EP, about a crumbling relationship—this loss that keeps you awake, sweating all over your sheets. It’s a theme we’ve all experienced, and if I’m being honest, it’s overdone, especially with indie folk… But the difference here is that Drucker leaves you room to breathe between each song rather than beating you over the head with it.
Sure, maybe the songs to him are about a relationship ending, but it could also be localized to any type of grief. It’s heavy, but not too heavy. Saying enough and then leaving you to sit with the thematic impetus. The tracks are also well-written, never passing the 120 bpm mark; soft acoustic guitar and some country flourishes like slide guitar, buzzing lead, paving the way for Drucker’s powerful and slightly enrapturing voice on a track like “Get out of my bones. The saddened indie pop-ish “Mind in the Gutter,” which later on explodes into a call and response chant that covers your eardrums. “Don’t you let me down” features a lovely duet with singer-songwriter Anna Justen (whose voice has a certain Cat Power vibe). The mixing of her falsettos over top of Drucker’s makes this one of the most enjoyable on the EP.
What keeps See Myself Out from feeling heavy is the warmth baked into the production. The sound is intimate without being claustrophobic, introspective without being pretentious. It’s a great debut from a musician we will no doubt hear more from.
