Boston native Lucy Frost has continued a streak contemplative singles with the release of the folk-styled “Prescription.” For lovers of Noah Kahan, Leith Ross and Angel Olsen, this song’s muted and layered guitars, careful drumming, and anxious lyricism will be a new favourite.
The highlight of this song is easily the songwriting, with Frost beautifully using the analogy of addiction for someone you know is bad for you. Opening the song is “I took your word like a prescription,” setting up the entire next 3 minutes in a single, succinct line. Frost expands on the analogy in the first verse with lines such as “God I was addicted, swallowed up your lies” and “I’ve had to cut down on affection.”
With this set up, Frost moves into a pre-chorus and chorus that rely on imagery and admissions. The lines “take you back / take you back again” subtly emphasise a cycle of heartbreak as Frost goes back to a lover following withdrawal.
In the second verse, Frost moves further into imagery with the line “pressed against the leather of his couch” as she describes how she “treat[s] my agony with pleasure.” Unfortunately, the song is cut short with the end of the second chorus. This lack of a bridge and change in the final chorus does deflate the song a little as the energy builds to something that ultimately doesn’t take place.
Still, with the support of guitars and light drums, the song holds strong with a story of simmering dependency on something that will always hurt, making Lucy Frost’s “Prescription” a new song on rotation for indie folk lovers.
