Your guess is as good as the next person’s in terms of whether the American Dream is still a tenable prospect in 2020 — though NYC synthpop duo Satellite Mode’s new video “Dream, American” provides a hazy meditation on what America means, exactly. Home movie visuals and dreamlike arpeggios underscore uncomfortable axioms, how we’re “all longing [for] that good American green,” how antiquated conceptualizations of comfort like “milk money” seem odd by contemporary standards, and how it might be better to set aside old visions and just “let it burn.” During a time when ideas of national identity and success seem increasingly more outdated and convoluted,Satellite Mode’s evenhanded, electronic approach feels centering, a soft-spoken critique for our shitshow year. Watch it below, and stream their new EP Robots vs Party Girls, out today.
