Dylan Hicks’ Ad Out Cheers and Charms like your Best Friend on a Bender Singer-Songwriter

Remember when we used to call the next great singer-songwriter a “new Dylan”? Almost a dead ringer for Andy Warhol, a noted novelist with a Minneapolis-area DIY past rooted back in indie label Twin/Tone, Dylan Hicks is now the best next “new Dylan.” Fans of Jens Leckman, Stephin Merritt, Warren Zevon, and other salty, subversive Noir-Americana will find astonishing gems on his latest release, Ad Out.

Because he’s in on such jokes, Hicks had actually labelled his 1990 debut New Dylan. His story songs are full of broken characters trying to keep it together as they furiously punch buttons on jukeboxes where they’ve gone to drown in emotional music. He’s been highly praised by Robert Christgau at Noisey/VICE, who gave Ad Out an A – rating, and was queried about his own juke selections in tribute to his latest single “A-24” by the esteemed paper his written for himself, City Pages. Being a Hicks devotee is like having one of these incredible late night conversations with a fellow music fan, who can both bond with you about life’s gnarly blues and still  offer up a perfect 70s-style FM singalong to gallows-humor the darkness over with.

Dylan’s primary instrument next to his sweet, charming voice is piano, but there’s plenty of room in the same bar for a backing lounge band, a picker adding some country licks — and then stopping the cabaret bomp briefly to include occasional aching acoustic ballads. Ad Out is one of those go-to emotionally resonant albums, due to many surprises in its tracklisting. Along with “A-24,” high points include the surprisingly tender “Ambulance” and the coyly libidinous “What I Want.” And once you come back for the pleauring jolts of humor and goodtime-wrongtime tuneage, you return again like Ad Out like a comfortable favorite film to get lost in.

First video for Hicks’ new single “A-24”: Dylan Hicks, A-24

Dylan Hicks’ notes about the video:

Part of my ongoing series of country songs that don’t precisely sound like country songs, “A-24” is narrated by a character who makes a weekly visit, almost a pilgrimage, to a remote honky-tonk highlighted by its extensively stocked jukebox. At around the same time every Friday night, the narrator dances ecstatically and restoratively to his or her favorite song. Perhaps this unnamed song is also your favorite. The video was conceived and made by my friends Carolyn Swiszcz and Wilson Webb. Carolyn is a visual artist who works with various media and who illustrated and hand-lettered the cover of my last novel. We have a kindred sensibility. Wilson is a photographer and cinematographer who most frequently works as an on-set photographer, providing stills for lots of movies you might have seen. Inspired by Carolyn and Wilson’s earlier video collaborations, I asked if they’d be game for something that blended footage of me dancing, singing, and what have you with illustrative paintings and animation. We shot it in South St. Paul, including on property belonging to Darin Spring, a keen-eyed collector who assisted with the shoot. The shot of me inspecting that old truck’s engine is the least plausible. I have to consult the manual before adding wiper fluid.