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The third and most seasoned Drugdealer album, Hiding in Plain Sight, almost didnt happen at all. Frustrated and insecure with his own singing voice prior to the pandemic, Drugdealer founder and primary songwriter Michael Collins was nearly ready to throw in the towel. With hits like Suddenly and The Real World (from the bands 2016 debut, The End Of Comedy) and Honey (from their first album for Mexican Summer, 2019s Raw Honey), Collins had plenty to be happy about. But due to a frequent impulse to hand over the microphone to friends and collaborators like Weyes Blood, Jackson MacIntosh, and his trusty musical companion Sasha Winn, Collins became increasingly unsure of himself as a singer. Then, amidst the windswept art colony of Marfa, Texas, a chance encounter with the visionary artist and composer Annette Peacock changed his outlook.While attending Mexican Summers annual Marfa Myths festival, Collins ran into Peacock backstage. I was so inspired by [Annette]. But similarly to all these other vocalists Id worked with, I didnt feel like I had it in me. he recalls. I told her my plight, then I played her a song, and she told me I wasnt singing high enough for my speaking voice. When I returned to LA, I started coming up with new progressions, which Id modulate up three half steps. It forced me to find a new way to sing.In the valley of the shadow of doubt, during a period when Collins was considering giving up on music and embarking on his lifelong dream of filmmaking, a furtive conversation with a legend allowed him to find his own distinctive voice. But, as the title implies, the lockdown era during which Collins wrote the bulk of the record was a time spent searching for answers searching for love.Madison, the opening track on Hiding in Plain Sight, is the first song Collins wrote singing in this suggested range. His newfound confidence as a yarn-spinning vocalist in the gruff tenor tradition of Nick Loweor even Van Morrison, is readily apparent, with Conor Catfish Gallahers pedal steel adding a dusting of cosmic country to Collins down-hard love song.But this quest spanned beyond the traditional conception of love. It takes a village to put together Drugdealer records. The Greek term for love of friends, philia, translating to the highest form of love, is evident in a deep cast of characters including Drugdealer band members Mikey Long, MacIntosh and Josh Da Costa (CMON), as well as Southland virtuosos like John Carroll Kirby (Frank Ocean, Stones Throw) and Daryl Johns (Mac DeMarco, The Lemon Twigs).