From the moment you hear the anthemic guitar on the opening track, “A Place Called Space,” you know that the disco age has come back. The long awaited album by one of the mighty pillars of New York’s DFA label, The Juan Maclean, is now the definitive proof that whatever rut dance music may have been in – whether it’s trap or deep house or tropical house – it just can’t compete with the old school.
Marking one of the biggest collaborations for DFA songstress extraordinaire Nancy Whang since the dissolution of LCD Soundsystem, “In A Dream” presents us with the version of old fashioned dance that – in an age of the unstoppable EDM machine – we most definitely don’t deserve, but we absolutely need. Everything from “A Place Called Space” to the stargazing “Love Stops Here” to the synthy house party jam “A Simple Design” is a fervent, affectionate ode written for the music that inspired the DFA label in the first place with tones and melodies and builds that recall the heyday of the discotheque: tastes of artists like The Human League and Herbie Hancock and Depeche Mode find themselves peeking out from the corners of each track like fans in a crowded dance hall.
But what really stands out here is Nancy. A tour de force in terms of her delivery and her songwriting, she acts as the pulse in the array of lush, undeniably appetizing soundscapes that this album represents. “Running Back To You” is a showcase for this as she slips a sweetness into lyrics about looking out the window reflecting on romances that never were which conveys not just a lovelorn vulnerability, but an understanding that something better could be on the horizon even if it’s right in front of you. It’s a faithful merger of classic themes with respect for the 80’s new wave and it hits every single mark.
Even the less approachable tracks for new listeners, like “Charlotte,” have this nuanced approach making them less like B-sides on a record full of straightforward hits and more like a complete meal; like the veggies next to a sirloin steak, the meat is great, but the vegetables are necessary to satiate your needs. And that says a lot in a decade that has so far turned into a race geared towards what new tracks you can pop out (especially with a tired music industry’s switch to relying on digital singles). In this regard, The Juan Maclean proves to be the abnormality, which is an achievement on its own, and one that will more than likely place this album alongside other albums in the higher echelons of music royalty.
Simply put, “In A Dream” exceptionally ventures where few in the dance music industry dare to tread and their journey from track to track impresses with each beat, synth, vocal, pad, and bit of self-aware savviness.