By: Kayleigh Drake 

Draag is one of those bands that you can’t really pin down to one genre. And that’s what I love about them.

Well, that and the fact that every song I’ve ever heard by them is amazing and transcendent and makes me feel like I’m floating through a dreamworld. And their most recent release, a six-song EP called Miracle Drug, is absolutely no exception. 

If you’re unfamiliar, Draag is a five-piece band based in Los Angeles, and they played a show at Saturn here in Birmingham just last year. (I believe it was their first time here, and I certainly hope it won’t be their last.) They run in the same circles as the band Goon, who are also from LA, also a really great band and who also played a show at Saturn last year (and will hopefully be back).

If I had to pick one genre to sum up Draag’s catalog, though, it’d be shoegaze. But said shoegaze is often interpolated with elements like pop, noise rock and post-punk, and they even incorporate some black-metal-esque screams into the mix on some songs. It’s really just an amalgamation of fantastic sounds that scratch pretty much every musical itch I have. 

Another thing I love about Draag is the vocal harmonies. I am an absolute sucker for a good vocal harmony, and they float through every song on this EP (and throughout their whole catalog in general, really). Singers Adrian Acosta and Jessica Huang have those types of voices that just blend so perfectly together, and in some songs they meld into an almost androgynous sound, much like Kevin and Bilinda of My Bloody Valentine (which happens to be my favorite band of all time). 

With Miracle Drug, Draag gives us a glimpse of the reality behind living with an autoimmune illness. In fact, that’s what inspired the title of the EP: “Some days you want a miracle drug to escape what feels like a prison in your body,” the band wrote in an Instagram post announcing the release. And if you pay attention to the lyrics, you’ll see what they mean by that. 

This EP comprises six songs, starting with Miracle Drug, the title track and also the first single which dropped in December 2025, along with an accompanying music video. (Which you can watch below!) I also read that Adrian’s dad is actually the guy on the cover of the EP, and also featured in a clip in the video, so that’s pretty rad.

Here’s a song-by-song breakdown of what’s in store on Miracle Drug:

Miracle Drug: An uptempo track that features Adrian’s high-pitched, shrieking screams mixed at a somewhat low volume and juxtaposed with Jessica’s sweet, feather-light vox, all atop a backdrop of melodic, driving, shoegazey perfection. The opening line of the song strikes me as a perfect representation of the theme of the record: “I’m a lover. It’s subtle. But wait, you took it all away.” While I’ve never experienced an autoimmune illness myself, I do know that health conditions in general can feel like they’re subtly chipping away at your life, your being. And eventually, they can take it all away. So right off the bat, they’re telling us what’s up. 

NSPS: This was the second single from the EP, released just a couple weeks before it came out. It starts with a light, lilting keyboard lick set against a drum machine beat — which kind of reminds me of “Eyes Be Closed” by Washed Out — and then come the wall-of-sound guitars, which amplify during the chorus. Towards the end, there’s another really cool keyboard riff that reminds me of the one from “I Only Said” by MBV. 

Finding Fear: Shoegazey as all-get-out, and one of my faves on this EP. Reminds me of Souvlaki-era Slowdive, specifically the song “Machine Gun.” They’re both in the same key, for one, and they have that dreamy wall-of-sound quality that just kinda washes over you. I’ll be listening to this on my next window-seat plane ride, that’s for sure. 

Sit: Very dreamy, very short, barely a minute and a half but it could go on for five times as long and I wouldn’t mind. It’s a mostly instrumental track, save for some oooh-like vocalizations drifting across the latter half of the song. 

Hide Me: My favorite track on the whole EP. It’s in the key of F, which is my favorite key (because I’m the type of person who has a “favorite key,” I guess). It’s a bit more uptempo than the preceding three tracks, it’s very catchy, and it’s definitely a repeater. (I’ve already listened to it literally thirty-one times at the time of writing this, per my Last.fm.) The line “I can’t bring you back” repeats at several points during the song, and while that can be interpreted in myriad ways, to me it’s saying: “I can’t bring back my body before the diagnosis. I can’t bring back the version of myself and my health that existed before being subjected to this.” Then, at the end, there’s the line: “I am sliding through your life again.” It’s as if the illness itself is announcing its presence as it ushers in yet another wave of symptoms. Maybe it’s not that literal. But to me it is. Either way, this song is the highlight of the entire album for me.

Do You Rest: A slow, dreamy end to a stellar collection of songs. Like a foil to the loud, screamy first track, this one is — fittingly enough — like a moment of rest and respite. “I did a good deed today, take me to the moon.”

Overall, I really can’t say enough good things about this EP. It’s the perfect way to start out this year, musically, and I’m hoping there’ll be even more to come afterwards. (Maybe even another full-length album? Their last one dropped in 2023, so we’re due for another 10-songer, IMHO.) But one thing’s for certain: Y’all are in for a treat with this one. 

Stream it here!