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97. Don't You Worry, Honey - Sir Sly (2017)

Alternative

The ultra-cool rebelliousness found in abundance throughout Don’t You Worry, Honey (2012) is best encapsulated in the most memorable line in the opening track and lead single, High. “It feels good to be running from the devil…” vocalist Landon Jacobs sings on the hook. You can almost see the sly smirk on his red-eyed face as he wrote it in a hazy, smoke-filled room. The album functions as a brash opt-out of some of the most tedious aspects of life and a retreat into some of the more primal pleasures that are often spurned by society.

Loaded with insinuations of drug use and misuse, it seems to be a defense of living so entwined with illicit substances, for better or worse. To Jacobs, there’s admittedly much to run from in life, especially ill-fated relationships and the ensuing searing loneliness. Pile on that some crippling anxiety and panic attacks, it’s heavy stuff. Stuff that’s made far more manageable beneath a warm drug-induced blanket. The problem is, it’s not a cure-all and it can actually make matters worse (“I’m way too faded for falling in love”). 

Despite being deep in the throes of a disorienting tussle with a litany of substances, the final product here is whip-smart and intoxicating in its own right. Risky or not, it succeeds in making the counterculture lifestyle seem pretty cool indeed.

*image; cover art for the album Don’t You Worry, Honey by the artist Sir Sly