On Friday, December 1st, a years-long prophecy will be fulfilled. Kevin Patrick Sullivan—known to many as Field Medic—will release his highly anticipated new album, a record first announced seven years ago when, at a gig, he prefaced “Do A Little Dope” with a single promise: The song will have its official studio release in 2023, on a forthcoming collection entitled “dope girl chronicles”. The album is a labour of immense love from Sullivan—both in service to the lore of Field Medic and to the listeners who’ve been supporting him for a decade. The songs were written around the same time “dope girl chronicles” was first teased on-stage, but this chapter is not a spur-of-the-moment construction of brand-new tracks meant to bring a fable to life. No, these songs are of a special moment in Sullivan’s creativity. Written through the headspace he was in in 2015 and 2016, tracks like “dope girl,” “cemetery,” and “cement” are as affixed to the legacy and legend of dope girl chronicles as Sullivan is himself. The songs all share a common thread of relationships, not crafting an orbit around sobriety and mental health like Sullivan’s recent releases
Lyrically, “dope girl chronicles” is as gut-wrenching, evocative and clever as ever; a black light inspection of Sullivan’s own psyche. You don’t write a song like “do a little dope”—and center a record around it—without a keen sense of gallows humour. And yet, there’s a hopeful throughline running throughout the record, focused most squarely on the titular “dope girl.” Never has Sullivan’s lyrics painted such a cozy scene. “Tell me, what am I supposed to do when you’re kissing me awake?” he sings on “clear thoughts of morning,” before adding a swift “my love, her eyes go unadorned and see right through me.” Some moments are downright silly in their domestic bliss, such as the opening line of “silver girl,” where Sullivan muses: “Girl, your command of language has got me sprung, you express yourself just like Joan Didion.” So much of the Field Medic catalogue features Sullivan working through things internally, so it’s nice to find him shifting the perspective here.
“dope girl chronicles” is unlikely to upend anyone’s year-end lists. It might well be, by its very nature, destined for a lifetime as a companion piece to its predecessor, something for the real OGs that might need to be rediscovered years down the line. Its very existence is evidence of Sullivan’s many devout fans holding him to a promise he made seven years ago. It might not have been a promise he truly intended on keeping, but it’s pretty incredible he got the chance to make good with an album that routinely delivers the best of what Field Medic has to offer.
released December 1st, 2023
The Fat Angel Sings 