Singled Out: Pharmacose's Obey

Keavin Wiggins | 06-10-2022

Single art

The Jacksonville, FL alt-rock project Pharmacose recently released a brand new single called "Obey", and to celebrate we asked Wes Jones to tell us about the track. here is the story:

"Obey" is the second song off our second album Ascension's Constraint. It's closely tied to a book I am writing also entitled Ascension's Constraint. I plan on releasing one part of the book per month on Kindle Vella that will go with a new track available on streaming.

For the most part, I plan on matching the song and the current chapter of the book thematically, but I decided to write the book after "Obey" was done, so in this instance, it's going to help set the tone for the novel. The lyrics, and the book for that matter, are more or less telling the story of a possible way we are headed. What got me thinking about what would happen if inflation got completely out of control and the currency collapsed. One outcome that I thought was a good setting for a sci fi novel was if some of the largest corporations in the country got together and stepped in to set up a new government. At that point I just wanted to write a good story in that setting. I thought there'd be a lot of espionage, so that plays a role, and there will be a few twists along the way.

As far as production goes, Lu Rubino, our producer since the beginning, was working on a song for someone else, but I guess they changed their minds, so he wondered if it was something that I'd be interested in working on with him. It has a more evolved sound then our earlier stuff, but I'm always going to be interested in trying new stuff. It's in my nature to tinker, and I'm not afraid to try new things sonically, so long as it's rock! He and I have done a lot of songs together at this point, and I think this is the second one where I only wrote the lyrics. Obviously, I love songwriting and production, but I really liked where this song was headed, and I thought it was probably good for me to put lyrics and a melody to something that was already mostly done. One of the biggest lessons I've learned working with him and in my own studio is that you just have to take things and run with it. If something sounds cool, just go with it. Don't overthink things, and don't be a control freak!

Hearing is believing. Now that you know the story behind the song, listen and watch for yourself below and learn more about the project here