Mod Sun’s “Silverline” Is Written From the Other Side of Addiction

Most songs about addiction are sung from inside it. Mod Sun’s new single, “Silverline,” arrives from the other side. The narrator has already gone, and the promise he makes is small and specific: a call once a week, mostly to confirm the other person is still alive. “I know it’s hard to change,” he sings. “Even though I had to leave, I’m still happy you happened to me.”

The track previews a sixth solo album due in 2027. Mod Sun, born Derek Ryan Smith, came up in Minnesota drumming on pots and pans after discovering Hanson on television, released The Hippy Hop EP in 2010, and followed it with a debut album, Look Up, in 2015. Work with Travis Barker, Machine Gun Kelly and Avril Lavigne followed. He is now seven years sober and recently relocated from Los Angeles to the Nashville area.

He made an object to accompany the song: a catch-all tray of rough wood split by a removable silver bar. Remove the bar and the wood underneath reads “It’ll be okay.” Raw next to embellished, as he describes it. The single operates on that same contrast, plain language and a modest vow that opens into something larger.