John MacLean, core of the evolving dance-punk project The Juan Maclean, has changed a lot due to variousinfluencesandbig circumstantial changes. Hispost-hardcore band Six Finger Satellite broke up. He went back to school and taught English. Hemaintained a close friendship with LCD Soundsystem’s James Murphy, whose influence eventually pushedMacLean back into the world of music, specificallydance-punk. MacLean’s sound was a bit different from Murphy’s, though, and, at the beginning, rudimentarily electronic. The sound was raw, spacey, and the vocals (contributed by Murphy, MacLean, and former LCD Soundsystem member Nancy Whang), despite anunexcited punk rock tinge, brought the “human” in the title’s Less Than Humanto a celestial electronic reality. And while that album started the ethereal journey,In a Dreampowers those elements into something superhuman.
Despite sounding more or less like a DJ project in their early days, the group was far more interested in a band-like atmosphere, which is why their live shows were accompanied by drummer Jerry Fuchs. As Whang highlightedin an interview with T Magazine, “What was so amazing about playing with [Fuchs] were all these moments when songs would develop through playing them live, just us looking at each other.”
What bleeds true in the band’s now third official studio album,In a Dream, is an honesty to what feels like intuition, seemingly fueled by that desireto be in the moment. Lead track“A Simple Design” features, for the first noticeable time, Whang as unabashed lead vocalist, herLCD Soundsystem track record lending itself to a perfect dance-punk channeling. Between the line “Everything you built comes falling down” and her repeated “la la la la,” an air of spooky nonchalance andpessimistic despair organically builds. As a result, thetrack holds its own against some of LCD Soundsystem’s second tier.
Since Fuchs’ tragic death in 2009,the band was left without amain component of their essentiallive feel and experience. This is salved some by the particular focusIn a Dream placeson introducing new instruments and buildinga more dynamic, “dreamy” sound. Opener “A Place Called Space” feels like a follow-up to Cut Copy’s remix of “Happy House”, where the line “Launch me into space” informedthe track’s deep house sound. “A Place Called Space” usessome of the same “launching” techniques, but viasubtler instrumentation. The upbeat tempo and fashionable groove arealso redolent of last year’s “Delorean Dynamite” by nu-disco dude Todd Terje. Ultimately, “A Place Called Space” introducesIn a Dreamas an album with an immediate live potential beyond that ofthe band’s earlier albums — a trait which carries throughout.
Lyricalphrases like “less than human,” “the future will come,” “everybody get close,” and “in a dream” all operate within a purely organiccontext, devoid of any direct relationship to the predominance of technology or the medium of electronic music (though it envelopsmost of The Juan MacLean’s sound). Whang and MacLean sing about doubt, waiting, disappointment, giving up, and giving in, all more or less in the context of love. The album’s title, though, goes beyond the human and everyday. It tiesthese concepts to the imaginary, or uncontrollable. And when 10-minute closer “The Sun Will Never Set on Our Love” comes around, Whang sings about alove that is truly something beyondrelation to human ideas liketime and consistency: “What if the sun goes down, forever?” she asks. “The sun can never set on our love.”
Essential Tracks:“A Place Called Space”, “A Simple Design”, and “The Sun Will Never Set on Our Love”
