Minihorse are a three-piece band from Michigan, and today they’re debuting “Drink You Dry,” the first single from their upcoming album Living Room Art. Frontman Ben Collins is quite the Renaissance man, having done everything from serve as Sophia the Robot’s personal bodyguard to expertly tripping balls on ayahuasca in Tulum. This breadth of life experience informs so much of this project that it’s hard not to find yourself somewhere between the layers of fuzz.

Collins, along with bassist Christian Anderson and drummer John Fossum, created a marvel of a track: catchy as hell, introspective enough to provoke existential thought, yet somehow calming all at the same time. The crunching guitars give off a Jersey pop-punk flavor, but the slower drum groove proves these guys are on their own spatial plane. “All my life, I’m just gonna be a little confused/ If you wanna hassle me/ Take advantage now,” Collins sings backed by guest vocalist Anna Burch. Reverb-drenched layering adds to that disembodied sense of drifting into another dimension.

Here’s Collins with more details on this track came to be:

“Drink You Dry” is the song that started minihorse. It was originally a demo I’d recorded to remember the chords and melody, but no matter how hard we tried, we were never able to re-capture the feeling of this demo. After inviting my friend Anna Burch to come sing some harmonies, it feels right to include this updated demo on our first record! While it’s lyrically impressionistic, the words came to me after being arrested and spending a night in jail. It happened directly after performing my own music for the first time, and explained to the officers that I was returning from a “solo show.” Later, reading the police report, I saw they had written down that I was a “one man band.”

Listen to “Drink You Dry” below.

TOUR DATES:
03/16 – Austin, TX @ The Parish (Park The Van SXSW Showcase)
03/17 – Austin, TX @ +WE COLOR LIVE+
03/22 – Detroit, MI @ PJ’s Lager House

Living Room Art is out this summer on Park The Van.

CREDIT: Maren Celeste