In 2012 much of the hardcore scene was buzzing about the Canadian band Single Mothers. Its self-titled 7-inch released on Secret Voice (the record label run by Touché Amoré’s Jeremy Bolm) captured a band that sounded like Black Flag but had the drug-addled storytelling and vocal style of a deranged Craig Finn. Then, Drew Thomson, the band’s singer, quit the band, opting to become a gold prospector instead. During his leave from Single Mothers Thomson releasde the four-song cassette, Honesty Is A Confidence Problem, and since then he’s gone on to give up prospecting, rejoin Single Mothers, and release a pair of the songs he wrote while searching for gold in the Canadian mines.
“Oxy,” which The A.V. Club is premiering below, is a plaintive tale of drug abuse and recovery, a topic that popped up in his past work but remains as compelling as ever. “Oxy” will serve as the B-side to Thomson’s upcoming, self-titled 7-inch release on No Sleep Records, where pre-orders are available.