Gracie Hadland on February 4th, 2019

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The opening chords of Field Medic’s new single “Henna Tattoo” sound as if they were plucked from a song by the 1920s Americana folk group The Carter Family. Kevin Patrick Sullivan, the single’s author, released the new song last week from his upcoming album “Fade Into Dawn.” The album will be released through Run for Cover Records, also the label of Pinegrove, another purveyor of melancholy whose conversational narrative lyrics typically center around the ache of infatuation.

In “Henna Tattoo,” Patrick harmonizes with himself while he bears witness to the slow fade out of a lover. The acoustic guitar opening is interrupted by a low-fi electronic drum beat, and what results is a tender folktronica song. You can practically hear those tears of longing falling onto the sampler. “It’s a song about being afraid to speak up for fear of what the truth might be,” the songwriter says. “So instead you remain in a state of unease & anxiety, because at least perpetual uncertainty isn’t as bad as the imagined worst-case scenario.”

The album, out April 19, will be his second for Run for Cover and third overall, following up 2017’s “Songs From the Sunroom.” It’s also his first since he relocated from San Francisco to L.A.

||| Stream: “Henna Tattoo”