Saying we’ve got a music crush on this band is a massive understatement. Chicago’s Secret Colours is a brand of psychedelic rock that’s equally sexy and zen. This is the music you do work to, hang out to, work out to, chill out to, make love to. Could there really be one band to fill every nook and cranny of our day-to-day musical desires? If you like pretending you’re in the ’60s, we say yes. Read on for a Spotify playlist, video, and photos from their hazy performance at Cake Shop.
The band’s first LP, 2010’s Secret Colours, is perfection dripping in 1960s guitar riffs, oozing dreamy vocals. The album jumps through different shades of psychedelia. “Chemical Swirl” features quirky percussion, a winding woodwind, and lethargic, drug-addled lyrics (“the holes in my brain, they make me feel strangely sane”) elevate the listener to a place above zen. Then comes “Lava,” a stoner rock jam with smoky harmonies and surf guitar powering the song to its rock’n’roll climax. Later in the album, “Popstars” explores every musician, or groupie’s, fantasy of being a popstar living on Mars in a very Dandy Warhols way.
They finally came to New York City on tour, having really only made a name for themselves in the Midwest, a place that might be most accustomed to their snaking, repetitive rhythms. The release of their new album, Peach, which gathers some songs from their previous EP called Ep3, and adds some new songs, mark a page-turn in their musical novella.
The new album incorporates an updated rock’n’roll sound, including elements of garage and western, and it feels more modern, more sleek, more party-ready. Their single “Faust,” with its suspenseful buildups, slightly sinister melodies, and cymbal-heavy rhythm, is a song built for stress release through headbanging (or at least hair-shaking). “Legends of Love” features a defined, blues-y guitar line and its catchy chorus features another, more upbeat, facet of the new album’s sound. The distinct favorite on the album, “Blackhole,” showcases the band’s best effort at a mainstream single, a perfectly paced song that mashes their repetitive, spacey, psychedelic vibe with radio friendly warped beats, minimalist melodies, and an awesome melodica solo.
Learn more about Secret Colours by visiting their website. Let’s hope they roll back to New York sometime soon.