What year is it? 2009? Not according to Danish disco dollies Private, whose effervescent floor-filler "My Secret Lover" indicates that they stopped checking the calendar sometime around 1986. Private's sound is a seemingly non-ironic homage to shoulderpadded soulsters of the big '80s--like Ready For The World, Jody Watley, Rockwell, the Time, DeBarge, Fivestar, and Jermaine "We Don't Have To Take Our Clothes Off" Stewart--complete with a keytar-laden, superlow-budget video that looks like it was shot solely for Beta VCR play:
But Private is not, in fact, some cryogenically frozen '80s dance band that was recently thawed out by Scandinavian scientists. It's actually a relatively new project headed by Denmark producer/remixer/ex-Superheroes frontman Thomas Troelsen, who just produced In And Out Of Control, the new album by Danish duo the Raveonettes. You may also recognize his high-pitched voice from the Michael Jackson-esque chorus of the hi-NRG hit "Move Your Feet" by fellow great Danes Junior Senior...but judging from this other Private video, Thomas's primary influence is not The Gloved One but The Purple One, Prince:
It's amazing how something so dated can at the same time sound so very funky-fresh. It's a sign o' the times!