Drink up Slaughter Beach, Dog’s safe and warm cup of coffee of a track, “Acolyte”

You’re sitting on the porch with a cup of coffee. The sun’s setting, there’s a slight cool breeze, trees are rustling, and you’re tucked under a crazily cozy blanket. Not a care, just good and safe. If this setting of comfort had a musical equivalent, it would be Slaughter Beach, Dog’s new song “Acolyte.”

I first heard this track after discovering SBD a couple months back, when on a revelatory YouTube binge in search of new tunes, I stumbled upon this gem in quiet, acoustic form for an Audiotree Far Out session. While the live track is more stripped and subtle in nature, the studio version bounces in an upbeat liveliness that skips hand in hand with its pal of fragile sincerity.

In the song, front-guy Jake Ewald highlights the beautifully simple, maybe unnoticed, specificities of life, like detailing the contagious playfulness of a smile escaping a smirk; all the while, making proposals of trips to Ireland, and even a down-the-line marriage.

Intertwining these ambitious future plans with mosey-along vocals and steady twang, “Acolyte” is tinged with a worn-yet-yearning old soulfulness, which gets summed up in the line, “Man it cuts like a dull knife, when you’re young and you’re told / makes sense when you’re older / darling let’s gets old.”

Listen to “Acolyte” below, and then catch the acoustic version below, below.