The Undercover Dream Lovers' chill bubbly funky track "Chardonnay" is sweet

photo by Rivka Rose

The Undercover Dream Lovers chill bubbly track Chardonnay spins a lot of images in your mind depending on what line or layer you pick up on. With it's sort of 70's porn or sitcom opening sounds, it shifts into a multi-generational updated indie funk flavor of iconic funk pop artists like Chic or Peaches and Herb except that Matt Koenig's comfortably cool croon (spread wide in the mix) with it's lush non falsetto falsetto is more in line with indie or sock hop punk or tropicalia. The production is so jammy and, yet dancy, you feel like forming a Soul Train Line. The sort of "wah wah" Casiofied synths lines are amazingly catchy as well. I haven't heard music that just wants to be funky and cool without an underlying (deep) sadness in a long time and it feels good. The Undercover Dream Lovers is, ostensibly, one man (the aforementioned) Matt Koenig and while he may bring in a friend or two to assist, he produces and mixes all the songs that happen to be (for the most part) created by him. The amazing looking Official video was directed by filmmaker OTIUM who has worked on videos for Hand Habits and Widowspeak. 

Chardonnay is from The Undercover Dream Lovers debut LP "It's All in Your Head" due to drop on February 28th (2020).
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Robb Donker Curtius





THE FACTS AS WE KNOW THEM - PRESS NOTES:

The song is from The Undercover Dream Lovers debut full-length album It's All in Your Head out in February 28. The video for the track was directed by filmmaker OTIUM who has worked on videos for Hand Habits and Widowspeak. 

 Here are some kind words about the upcoming release: 

The Fader says, "'Plane Ride,' is an intriguing slice of dream-pop reminiscent of the Flaming Lips' squishier moments circa The Soft Bulletin, not to mention some of that band's contemporaries like the Delgados and Grandaddy."

i-D says, "'A Way Out' weaves together a number of storylines that visually introduce each of the songs on The Undercover Dream Lovers’ forthcoming album It’s All In Your Head...The video also acts as a sonic bridge between Koenig's previous releases (While It’s In Style and In Real Time) and the new record, which is largely influenced by disco and the idea of creating an even more energized, groovy live show."

Billboard says, "'You Don't Have To Be Lonely' features bright, synth-based melodies are served best with a cherry popsicle and a sandy beach, making you long for the upcoming summer months. 'Wrapped up in a feeling / locked up in your head all the time,' Koening sings on the chorus, urging you to get on the dance floor and outside of all the thoughts holding you back."

The Undercover Dream Lovers debut album, Its All In Your Head was recorded at Matt Koenig's home studio in Los Angeles, CA, and features a collaboration with Dent May. Album highlights include the album's opening track "A Way Out," "You Don't Have To Be Lonely" and "Plane Ride." i-D Magazine premiered "A Way Out" and described the track as a "sonic bridge between Koenig's previous releases (While It’s In Style and In Real Time) and the new record, which is largely influenced by disco and the idea of creating an even more energized, groovy live show."

"Plane Ride" is a deeply personal song for Matt Koenig. He explains, “The ‘ride’ is a metaphor for life, and the plane crashing represents death." He adds, "I wrote the verse before going on tour and it was about me feeling caught in the distractions of life. The inspiration for the rest of the song came after tour. We were on the road with the band Her’s who were in a fatal car accident before our last show. 'Plane Ride' was the first song I worked on after returning, and my mind was still consumed by the loss. It felt personal for me to keep the first verse. It represented something before the accident, and really paints a picture about how what you may think is important can change in an instant.”

Immediately recognizable for his groovy bass lines, The Undercover Dream Lovers' Matt Koenig produces and mixes all his own songs and writes the majority of them, from time to time inviting a friend into his project for a collaboration. His tracks "Good Luck" and "Come Home" have attracted significant attention to his work – the former hitting 11 million streams on Spotify and charting on Canada & US Viral 50 and the latter hitting 14 million and charting on New Music Friday and US Viral 50. In addition to these strong chart positions, the Undercover Dream Lovers project has appeared in such TV shows as VICE's Fuck That's Delicious, NBC's Good Girls, and ABC's Whiskey Cavalier. Fender also featured the project on their Instagram (2.6 million followers) story.