Has one of indie rock’s best songwriters been hiding behind the drums all along? That’s at least the suggestion of “The One I Love,” the breathless and magnetic lead single from the debut album by Justin Sullivan, who has spent the better part of a decade supporting the likes of Cassie Ramone and Kevin Morby. Only two years ago, Sullivan bowed out of touring life to try to write songs of his own, as heard on the fine EP of bustling folk-rock he released last year as Night Shop.
But “The One I Love” is different, an auspicious introduction to a songwriter who has not only come into his own but landed one of the most addictive folk-rock hooks you’ll hear this year. Sullivan moves through this brisk song with big-city enthusiasm, turning images from a day in Manhattan into snapshots of happiness, jealousy, anxiety, and optimism; collectively, they find him trying to maintain sanity in a place where even love can make you mad. A song of and for the summer in the city, “The One I Love” is about being mesmerized and maddened by the same set of circumstances. He moves through it all like young Bob Dylan, in search for something unknown during Bringing It All Back Home. That’s a long way from the drumkit.
