Public Works


Public Works has four songs out, and each one is more striking than the last. He’s a bit of a mystery, but probably not for long

New Jersey
2024
Instagram | Youtube

Holy shit this is something else. He calls himself Public Works, and that’s about all I know about him, but hit play:

It shouldn’t work, and I almost completely ignored it, thinking that the voice was a put-on, but the lyrics sounded too real to hit skip on. I’m happy to admit that I was way wrong, and you should listen to the four songs by Public Works right now. That song “In the Pines”, above, seems to have a music video incoming, and his Linktree has a couple of broken links on it.

Some amateur sleuthing reveals him as Jacob Dietrich, but that’s as much as I can figure out. Here’s another one:

What a songwriter. What a voice. No website, no bio anywhere, no lyric sheet. Here’s what’s in his bio on Spotify:

i used to smoke crack and now i don’t. i like to make the music i want to make. eastcoast emo folk alt indie rock or whatever.

I don’t have a lot else to say. Just listen:

[this song was removed from youtube, unfortunately. I’ll restore it if it resurfaces]

This song has about 50 words in it, but it knocked me over. Here’s the lyrics:

I was so cold/and I was so young and I got so drunk

But for once I felt so warm/but then I threw up and I was fucked up

but I fell in love

January Came and went/I got addicted to heroin

14, 15, maybe 16 I forget/Heroin became my best friend

There’s one more, it’s called “County Mall”:

…and that’s it. Kind of like modern Everclear. Can’t wait for more. He has the most distinctive sound I’ve heard in a long time. I can’t get enough.


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