Third Eye Blind: 'We Are Drugs' EP review

Nineties alternative rock trailblazers Third Eye Blind release their We Are Drugs EP, a seven-track set following a year after the band’s final album release Dopamine. It’s a far stretch away from an album but the 26 minute set with zero filler.

So remember those boys way back, circa 1997, going on about wanting a bit more than a semi-charmed kind of life? I’ve got to be honest, the Third Eye Blind excitement has all but left me. Perhaps it was the interview line circulating over a year back that Dopamine would be their last album released, which often at first glance is indicative of a band that’s pretty much run dry – with two albums out the past decade, singer-songwriter Stephen Jenkins and company tend to be nostalgia for most. Yet decades later Third Eye Blind is fully charged, fresh and ready to go.

Diversity of sound weighs in prominently in the first several tracks, alternating from familiar territory to experimental tendencies of sound. Opening track “Company of Strangers” takes its time setting atmospheric tension in a relational muck up into hooking up with strangers live with a robot heart. “Queen of Daydreams” incorporates new waves tones likened to The Cure in an attempt of trying to connect with a woman completely lost in their daydreams.

For a band set in years Third Eye Blind works its strengths yet still sounds fresh enough to try something new. Alternative rock urgency builds up with the message “Don’t Give In” with a conscious digging through those who want to stay alive more than anything. “Isn’t it Pretty” mixes spoken word lyricism over a synth-pop something on the relational mess ups that unfold after the fact while trying to get away from it.

Throughout the EP collection more than anything the band emphatically reminds you that they come to rock and turn it loud. In one of the less confrontational moments “Sherri is a Stoner” is that alternative rock singalong that captures the surface appeal of thinking you really know a person. Falsettos ring high as “Weightless” crashes through in alt-rock abandon, like living on the edge with all your chips on the table as usual.

One of the more news-worthy moments comes from Third Eye Blind in closing, following outspoken concert event views and more. “Cop vs. Phone Girl” closes the set with a political overview touching on the racial tension running through America with controversial story origins. And there you have it.

As the band has evolved likely some will see that last bit as pandering to the crowds to simply stay relevant. Take note: the We Are Drugs EP was recording over a week’s time, and the band has always made clear where they stand. This time? Cue in the drugs and the dopamine, then dig a little deeper. The set was recorded in the immediacy of the moment and for the moment, Third Eye Blind is aiming for sheer weightlessness.