Potent is just one of many words that describes this Matt Maeson and Lana Del Rey collab.
-
8
No doubt serving to many as an introduction to the wonderful discography of Matt Maeson, ‘Hallucinogenics’ marries both Maeson’s pop singer-songwriter sound with the soaring angelic voice of Lana Del Rey. While it remains as a single from Maeson’s 2018 debut album Bank On The Funeral, this collaborative rendition helps the song reach new heights and turn into something truly remarkable for both Maeson and Del Rey. This isn’t another pop song for Del Rey like ‘Don’t Call Me Angel’, but instead a song that serves her voice in a truly unique way that’s never fit it so perfectly.
The song starts with the soft strumming of a guitar before Lana Del Rey sings us two lines, “pushing past the limit, trippin’ on hallucinogenics’. The theme of drugs isn’t a new one for the singer and so the song feels immediately comfortable with her own sound and lyrics. When Maeson picks up the following two lines, his deeper voice compliments the higher tones of Del Rey’s, which continues throughout the song as they make their way through the first three verses in a similar fashion. However, it’s when both musicians sing together that you really hear the beauty of their voices working together, one voice not drowning out the other and instead enhancing it in the way collaboration should.
When it gets to the chorus, the music drops away for a slight pause before drums, claps, and a stronger guitar strum introduces that more pop-orientated sound. It lifts the sober introduction and celebrates the type of music that Maeson’s discography centres on, and where this livened pace made me worry how Del Rey would cope singing over so much accompaniment, she quickly dispelled my fears and showed herself to be just as much of a formidable voice as she’s always been. In a sense, it offers a glimpse of how much talent Del Rey has a vocalist and it left me hoping she explores similar sounds and records in her own later records. Yet, Maeson isn’t without he merits either and this song still very much feels like his song, and it serves as the perfect introduction to Maeson as an artist – because his debut album is a hidden gem that I’ve only just discovered myself.
‘Hallucinogenics’ is a song of unbridled talent that helps introduce listeners to a Matt Maeson while also showcasing a side to Lana Del Rey we don’t get to see enough. It’s captivating and frankly brilliant, and it’s a song you’ll be listening on repeat to for hours on end.
‘Hallucinogenics’ is available to listen to now via Neon Gold Records.
