For their latest single, “Dreams,” New York City’s groove-savvy duo The Knocks have paired with the Canadian electro-pop gem Dragonette for a cruise that feels like dancing in the moat of the subconscious. Their fourth collaboration moves smoothly into that area where lush synths and glossy pop-soul collide.
“Dreams” begins with an airy, euphoric, tender shimmer, a signature sound the duo The Knocks has perfected and that Dragonette lifts with her feather-light magic vocal. Martina Sorbara, Dragonette’s vocalist, sings with an intimacy that seems like she’s leaning in to whisper something, a secret, and maybe she is.
This time, it’s a secret from the dream world. Dragonette explained that she always wanted to write a song about a sex dream. What she’s pursuing is something more surreal and oddly innocent. The lyrics drift through the hazy borderland of the subconscious desire where the fantasy doesn’t bear the weight of consequence, and emotion is raw and safe.
The production is glossy but not antiseptic, throbbing with that signature The Knocks bounce while retaining a sleepy fluidity. It’s danceable but more slow-motion, with eyes closed and in a night daze. The chorus swells like a gentle flashback, textured with synths that somehow seem like syrupy specs of the ’80s and yet somehow fresh. This is a gentle high, a pastel-hued memory you’re not sure you lived. With “Dreams,” The Knocks and Dragonette aren’t so much creating music as they’re constructing a universe. And there, we’re all blameless, drifting among emotion and neon clouds.
