It was Elizabeth Wurtzel who coined the term “Prozac Nation” to describe the state of the country living in the post behavioral medication boom of the 90’s, a time that spawned a new breed of diagnosed 9 to 5’s living in a limbo of euphoric depression. So it is that this populace needs what every other has before it: music to dance to. So it is the New Wave movement — which formed in the post punk boom of Joy Division and The Smiths, peaked in the 80’s with The Eurythmics and R.E.M., and was born again in the new millennium within bands such as MGMT and the New York City two pieces — makes it’s church in this era of ambivalence. This religion of moody dance music now finds itself two more promising disciples in Hartford, Connecticut’s Donovan Rex and Max Friday, the equal parts of the electronic duo Cheerleader.
In preparation of their premier full-length album, Do What You Want, the partners in crime have put out a three-song sampler in order to give the public at large something to get excited about. The EP works as a good introduction to the band’s sound. The title track is reminiscent of such out of town acts as The Church or Echo and The Bunnymen, with the lyrics grounding the band as good ol’ New England boys with the lyrics “I feel like driving/up Massachusetts/barely surviving/and feeling useless”. The three songs flow together well with a mix of clap-your-hands beats and lost-in-the-ether vocals that make for a solid mix of dance and daze and shows great promise for the upcoming full length. Anyone who believes in the Old Testament of New Wave based in The Cure and Depeche Mode or any new converts from the new indie found movement within Cults or Edward Sharpe and The Magnetic Zeroes would be well advised to check them out.–Anthony Geehan