Photo by Nicole Miller

Writing as someone who has been laid out for the last several days and is still recovering from a heavy plague of influenza come early this cold and flu season, it dawned on me that amid all of the coughing fits, fatigue, fever dreams (and nightmares, too,) and ultimately coming to a point where the virus broke me as a human being, you literally don’t have anything if you don’t have your health, and thank whatever energy in the universe if you’ve got anyone available to check in on you during your battle with perceived death. No music can be stomached during those kinds of days, but coming back through the haze and into better health finally, a song like shower curtain’s “benadryl man” is the bedroomgaze delirium from the Brazilian-rooted Brooklyn four-piece that sonically literalizes a darker defeat. Over , it’s just you, your antihistamine-fueled thoughts, and an imaginary man sitting at the edge of your bed while your body turns on itself. “Left a bad taste in my mouth / It was burning, it was sour / 30 seconds, it comes up / I feel like I’m throwing up,” vocalist and guitarist Victoria Winter sings. The paranoia is a transfixing trip — or is that just the nausea just ringing loud? Whatever the case, shower curtain knows this kind of weak spell isn’t one you’d want to tackle in your loneliest hour.

shower curtain’s words from a wishing well will be released October 18th on Angel Tapes / Fire Talk.