Eric Slick | photo by Jason Travis | courtesy of the artist
Dr. Dog’s Eric Slick embraces simplicity in new single “When It Comes Down To It,” announces sophomore LP Wiseacre
Philly multi-instrumentalist Eric Slick, of Dr. Dog fame, announced his sophomore LP Wiseacre today, out August 14. As part of the album announcement, Slick also released the track and lyric video for the album’s lead single, “When It Comes Down To It.”
“When It Comes Down To It” is a laid-back indie track, whose musical and lyrical simplicity reflects the theme of the song itself: “Maybe I’m not perfect / I’m a simple person / When it comes down to it.” The video serves as an homage to mail-order tutorial videos, showing Slick, guitar in hand, bobbing his head as lyrics and guitar chord diagrams display on the scren, complete with tablature at the bottom.
Slick says of the new song,
‘When it Comes Down To It’ is a song about admitting that while you may think you’re complex, your needs are much simpler than that. I wrote it with a timer set for 30 minutes. The first verse is about reconnecting with my partner Natalie in 2015 and the second verse is about a walk through the North Carolinian woods with my best friend Dominic. The chords are weird and specifically influenced by Haruomi Hosono and Milton Nascimento. I decided to make an 80’s instructional video for the song because I grew up watching them (specifically the Hot Licks series) every morning before school. It’s the first single from my album Wiseacre, and I couldn’t be more excited to share it with all of you.
Wiseacre is inspired by Slick’s recent marriage to collaborator Natalie Prass, the title reflecting their wedding location. It means to explore, in chronological fashion, Slick’s anxieties and insecurities leading up to his marriage. “Before you get married, you’re going through all the motions in your head,” he said. “Am I worthy of marriage? Do I have the personality for this?” Across the ten songs on the album, Slick sloughs off those questions and insecurities, fully committing to Prass.
Watch the video for “When It Comes Down To It” below.