On their new single, Brooklyn-based Secret Weapons has tapped into a wide range of classic styles to give us “Something New.”
There’s everything here from 80s synthpop to 90s boy-band stylings to the more modern, retro-minded pop of Capital Cities. Sprinkled throughout is the essence of Go West, known for its classic “King of Wishful Thinking.”
However, this isn’t a music history lesson. Secret Weapons have taken their inspirations and built a compelling new foundation for themselves.
This is by far the most pop of songs I’ve ever written about, but one facet that attracted me to it is that Gerry Lange and Dan E. pair their impeccably crafted piece of refined sugar with some sour lyrics.
It’s nothing earth-shattering — the song is basically about a guy who doesn’t want to be tied-down to a desk, all caught up in the office rat race. Or, reaching a bit, perhaps it’s an indictment of the contemporary American ethic of always looking for something better or newer. Either way, it adds a subversive quality to a masterful pop cut that could have been yet another love story in different hands.
Going back to that sugar, Lange and E. have unleashed one of the most insanely catchy songs in a long time. I don’t see how people won’t come away from this excited by the soaring chorus’ vocal onslaught, fuzzy synthesizers that rest somewhere in the clouds, and a backbeat that would make early Passion Pit proud.
Lange and E. first started writing songs last year, but made their project official after performing a series of shows throughout 2015. In their press materials, they cite influences such as Tears for Fears, Hall and Oates, and Cyndi Lauper. I don’t hear those artists on this song, but I could see Secret Weapons tapping them for future work.
After all, at this rate, they could be hiding the next “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” somewhere in their undisclosed repertoire.
Readers who are so inclined could do the detective work for us by going to the duo’s set on Oct. 14 at Webster Hall. They’ll be part of the CMJ Music Marathon.
