B-Side Guys

Through the prism of dream pop production, ECHLO’s “Got Me Drinking” transforms a Tinder match’s emotional whiplash into something both ethereal and cutting. The track showcases Chloe Charles stepping away from her orchestral electro-soul roots to explore more nebulous territory, where relationship status updates blur like neon through rain-streaked windows.

The Toronto artist’s sharp critique of societal conventions finds a perfect vehicle in this tale of digital-age romance. When she sings “Why’d you take a chance on this ride if you can’t decide,” the dream pop production creates a floating sensation that mirrors the weightlessness of modern dating – all possibility, no gravity.

What sets “Got Me Drinking” apart is how it uses genre conventions to underscore emotional complexity. The production’s haziness serves both aesthetic and narrative purposes, creating a sonic environment where nothing is quite as solid as it seems. This matches perfectly with lyrics about a partner who’s “like a true inversion/Flipping through emotions.”

Charles’ background as an award-winning orchestral performer shows in the song’s sophisticated arrangement. Each element feels precisely placed yet somehow fluid, creating a soundscape that’s as unstable as the relationship it describes. The chorus’s admission of “seeing double vision” becomes both literal and metaphorical.

The track’s structure mirrors its subject matter’s cycle of attachment and abandonment. “Got me drinking/Overwhelmed and thinking” repeats like a mantra, while the verses fill in a narrative that spans from December’s warmth to September’s cooling. It’s a clever way to show how time becomes fluid when you’re caught in emotional loops.

ECHLO’s exploration of polyamory and commitment ambivalence finds subtle expression in lines like “Ain’t gotta if you wanna be, wanna be free.” The dream pop framework allows these complex dynamics to float rather than crash, creating space for nuance often missing from traditional relationship narratives.

As part of her debut “Echolocation” album, “Got Me Drinking” suggests ECHLO is more than just an echo of Chloe Charles’ past work. It’s a bold step into territory where personal experience becomes political statement, where the inability to commit becomes commentary on broader societal structures.

The track’s examination of modern romance – from Tinder meetings to cyclical separations – gains additional weight coming from Charles’ perspective as a Trini-Canadian artist navigating Toronto’s male-dominated music scene. Her “uncompromising tenacity” shows in how she transforms personal uncertainty into universal experience.

Through ECHLO’s dream pop lens, even seeing double becomes a kind of clarity. “Got Me Drinking” proves that sometimes the best way to examine relationships is through slightly blurred vision, where the lines between commitment and freedom become as fluid as the music itself.