After the first listen, Cold Engine's latest Retro-rock number, "You're Not In Love," feels like a trip back to the Summer of 85 cruising down the I-95 in a 1979 Shelby, with the hair measuring down to your neck erupting against the wind as you sail into the sunset listening to the Power-Pop Rock Anthem blasting from the car stereo.
With a timeless aesthetic that draws from the touchstones of 80s Power-Pop and Rock 'n' Roll, this Boston-bred duo gathers from their musical influences with a connoisseur's ear for this cut. And in doing so, they manage to teleport their audience back to the Golden-Era, where melodically driven top-lines, gyrating guitar solos, and the classic industrial drum sounds of the 80s collude together over this latest track; tempering and decorating their sound with an analog console from that same era, or at least that's what it sounds like.
In "You're Not In Love," Cold Engines colludes together between syncopated funk-like cadences found in the verses and a captivating up-roaring anthemic chorus that evokes the best nostalgia-induced urges to dance, jump, and shout along.
As the Boston-based new-age Duo—comprised of The Brew's founding members David Drouin and drummer Aaron Zaroulis—focuses in on their grooving mid-tempo introductions, embellishing guitar howls highlight the coruscating narratives David paints with timeless enthusiasm over a nostalgic swagger that settles into your soul as soon as the first beat of the drums batters down on the chest.
As David croons, "come back into bed, move a little bit close, I'm reaching out for your hand, I know it's not fair," the energy surrounding the Rock-Duo boils, evolves, and eventually envelopes all surroundings with a majestic guitar solo that buzzes over a scintillating variation of the top-line melody.
As subtly arpeggiating synths festering over the timeless rock-driving dynamics oozing from every powered amp, and blistering finger laboring over, "You're Not In Love," it's almost impossible not to feel the urge to dance and sway.
When looking back, the guitar-leading riffs, timeless drums, and David's melodious vocal performance effortlessly diffuses warm and hugging tenderness throughout the playback of "You're Not In Love," and these performances stand as cornerstones in what makes this band so successful throughout every release.
It's a masterful blend of new-school meets old-school sonics, amalgamating into unison, giving every 80s-head foaming at the mouth a run for their money after listening to the carbonated resoundings of "You're Not In Love," this Boston band's new-age love anthem—with all the synchronized and balanced choreography that comes attached.
What were the inspirations and the emotions you found yourselves channeling into for your performances on "You're Not In Love”?
Well, first and foremost this song is part of a full-on rock opera based on the sci-fi masterpiece, Total Recall! This particular song references a part of the film where the main protagonist realizes that his whole life is a dream/memory implant and he really doesn’t know who he is at all. We channeled feelings of love and loss along with a dreamy atmosphere to try and capture the emotive content in this chapter of the tale.
What’s the story behind this song? Is it based on your past personal experiences or a fictional anecdote you came up with about Love?
Of course when writing, even for a concept record, we draw from experience both emotionally and with songcraft. The vast majority is directly based on the film and our interpretation but our own sensibilities seep in.
What did the writing and recording process for "You're Not In Love" look like? Did the journey start with a few chords, a drum fill, or maybe some midi notes in your DAW?
Great question! The chorus came straight to me while driving to a college class. I pulled over and recorded it straight into my voice memo on my phone. The rest of the tune wrote itself! By that, I mean once the chorus was solidified the rest sort of just poured out during the writing sessions for the record.
If you could give your audience a few words that would act as the Prologue for the experience behind "You're Not In Love," what would you say and why?
Contextually, This record is 100% a full-on journey and concept record based on the film. We not only went to great lengths to achieve an accurate portrayal of the story, we pushed the recording techniques and sound textures of the era of the 1980s as far as we could. We truly believe we were passed a torch from the great concept albums of the past like The Wall, Tommy, Coheed and Cambria, and especially Anais Mitchell’s Hadestown. We really wanted to lean into the classic band approach of a fully realized rock opera with zero editings in regards to quantizing and auto-tuning.
What has been keeping you inspired in 2020?
Music, art, books, friends, love, and an open heart/mind. It’s certainly a time where artists have a lot to say. Hence the release of the life long dream of a concept album based on Total Recall. It’s essentially a story about regular people coming together to achieve real freedom from cooperating overlords. That not a far cry from where we are in America today.