Phil Cook - People Are My Drug (CD)Transforming pain and injustice into love and compassion is a rendering that has been universal to poets and prophets for centuries. In present times, choosing to amplify community and positivity through art can seem like a radical act. With the arrival of People Are My Drug, Phil Cook is taking the spark from lights left on by musical heroes and offering a torch for listeners as they navigate their own dark corners. Where 2015s Southland Mission

with years of friendship and music behind us

talked once over the phone about our general approach to the performance

There are some people who want to be so meticulous and have control over every element of something and that’s cool too

Opener “Ituri Air” feels like floating inside some colorful cloud

dogs barked

and then on to much bigger stages offline

a domino effect of doors closing and Moore stumbling headfirst into the uncertainty of what comes after a life fundamentally changes

we can allow these archetypes to pervade our experience and teach us lessons as old as time and reflexive in every organism’s makeup

but the “no rules Sandy” background vocal is different— echoing and hypnotic

The stage we were playing

and the heat that had been building up all day had nowhere to go

”) Sanborn’s synths nod to 90s electronic music throughout