Sometimes, in the surge of steel, concrete and human bodies that feed every vessel and pore of a city like New York with constant nerves and electricity, there are points when the claustrophobia occasionally breaks free. A train that’s been rumbling underground for miles might suddenly pierce the surface and keep going, rising above the sprawl of slouching rooftops and window constellations, each beaming some small flash of insight into an otherwise anonymous life. It’s moments like this when the city opens up and you no longer feel the crowds, just the sheer, utter vastness of this place.
Daydream Nation, the quintessential album by a quintessential New York band, is full of a something similar- points where tightly wound songs break free of their form and spill into open folds of texture, tone and melody. This was the sound that gripped me when I first heard it at 16, lying on my bedroom floor. Lights off, feeling the music peak and dissolve, then open into something new, looming larger and larger til it almost seemed unreal. Even in the dark of a suburban teenage bedroom, a sense of something sheerly and utterly vast.
A nice, long flavor profile here, with scents and tastes that dissolve, then turn into something new…
DAYDREAM NATION:
- 2 oz. bourbon
- ¾ oz. Campari
- ¼ oz. falernum
- ¼ oz. maraschino liqueur
- 2 dashes of Bittermens Xocolatl Mole bitters
- orange twist for garnish
Stir all ingredients with ice and strain into a chilled rocks glass with a large ice cube. Garnish with the orange twist.
