The Medicinals, an amalgam of musicians from the shores of Lake Ontario in western New York, have released three songs to date. They dropped their first single, the Afrobeat flavored anthem, “We Gonna Get Through,” on June 30th, 2020. Two years to the day later, they followed that up with an uplifting homage to reggae music and their hometown of Rochester, NY, titled “Love the Sound.” With the recent release of their latest single, the band seems to be ahead of their pace of releasing a track every two years.
This is great news! Why? With Major League Baseball having just opened their 2025 season, I’ll put it in baseball parlance: The Medicinals are three for three, i.e. they’re batting a thousand. For those not into sports, in other words, they have achieved perfect/flawless success.
I really dug their first track. I loved their second song. And their third release…to continue the baseball metaphor, they clobbered out of the park. This winner, titled “Reach You,” instantly puts a vigorous bounce in my step and prompts me to sing along loudly, especially when the chorus hits with its “Wo-ooahh, I’m coming in the morning…” And this is not just lip service. I mean it literally. Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve listened to this song numerous times while walking my dog throughout my neighborhood. Every time, I find myself bobbing to its irresistible beat, wondering if anyone is laughing at me from inside their homes as I groove to the music coming from my ear buds invisible under my hoodie.
One of the main creative forces behind this band and whose voice graces their music, Dylan Savage, has been known over the past two decades for his songwriting, singing and guitar work in Giant Panda Guerilla Dub Squad. For this reason, The Medicinals music strongly resembles that of GPGDS. Savage’s distinctive voice, delightfully saccharine and placid, lends itself to lovers rock songs and has often reminded me of reggae luminary Gregory Isaacs, who The New York Times had once labeled “the most exquisite voice in reggae.” That comparison comes rushing to mind with “Reach You,” especially with the aforementioned line “I’m coming in the morning,” which conjures Isaacs’ massive hit, “Stranger in Town,” in which the Cool Ruler sings, “I wanna love you in the morning.”
According to the band via their press release, The Medicinals’ latest song, produced by Savage and bandmate Will McKenna, “delivers a heartfelt message about love, togetherness and resilience through life’s ups and downs. At its core, ‘Reach You’ is a song about connection—whether with a partner, a friend, or the world—highlighting the power of music to bring people closer.”
With all of the stress and strife bombarding us these days, “Reach You” is a welcomed salve.
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Over the years, he has interviewed many personalities throughout the reggae world including Ziggy Marley, Burning Spear, Lucky Dube, Bradley Nowell and many artists in the progressive roots scene.
Dave has also written and published a novel, “The Cosmic Burrito,” a tale of two friends who drive across the USA in search of the ultimate burrito. He plays ice hockey weekly for a recreational team he founded and manages, Team Rasta.
Reggae music has filled his life with a richness for which he will forever be grateful, and he gives thanks to musicians far and wide, past and present, whether they perform roots, dub, dancehall, skinhead, rocksteady or ska, whether their tools are analog or digital, as well as the producers, promoters, soundsystems, selectors and the reggae massive at large who comprise the international reggae community.
You can follow Dave on Instagram at @rootsdude and Twitter at @ElCosmicBurrito.