Artist: The Secret Handshake
Album: Night & Day
Date released: August 17, 2010
Genre: Powerpop/Motown
Album Review:
Texas-based Luis Dubuc (aka The Secret Handshake) decided not to stick with the standard electronic-based music he relied on before, and made an album that he describes as "a Motown record, man". Instead of synthesizers and vocoders, there are brass instruments, gospel vocals, and upbeat piano rhythms in Night & Day. In addition, an album simply called "Night" will feature techno remixes of the songs on this release.
It goes without saying that this is a big change for fans of TSH, and a big step for Dubuc. Motown is not a field of music one would expect him to jump into, and yet on this album it surfaces in many songs. The opening track "Every Single Time" explodes with trumpets and piano upfront. Although some of the songs are catchy in themselves, like the track "Domino", the whole album has an awkward feel, not because of how different it is, but simply the music itself. Clearly, Dubuc has far to go if he is to exemplify soul music, with the random falsetto notes and lack of overall elegance vocally. The track "Used to be Sweet" features Lights, and even her normally stellar voice went astray. Though a great songwriter, the songs on Night & Day seem overly cheesy and thematically shallow.
Overall, Dubuc's desire to make music for himself is admirable, but if this motown-style of music is what he wants to stick to, let his music just be for himself.
Rating: 5 out of 10
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