The Secret Handshake in August

It is an album title that truly signposts a major sea change. Night & Day holds fast to its title's pronouncement of seemingly polar opposites. The gripping melodies are still firmly in place, but that's where the similarities between Dubuc's back catalog and his latest creation end.

For the past several years, Dubuc and his fusion of sugary pop hooks, laid atop a host of samples and caked with computer-enhanced effects, created the signature electronic-pop sound that landed him the sort of success that many artists in indie circuits could only wish for.

For his latest full-length, Night & Day, Dubuc wasn't going to resign himself to recording a similar batch of tracks once more. His influences are wide ranging, including The Temptations, Jackson 5, plus Motown-inspired hitmakers like Blood, Sweat and Tears and Tower of Power.

Recorded to tape on an original Ampex Tape Machine, Dubuc and producer Noah Shain used a three-track recorder that was popular until the mid-1960s which many famous pop recordings � including many of Phil Spector's "Wall of Sound" productions and early Motown hits � were taped on. It's live strings, live horns, live percussion and group background singers. Live drums, bass, guitar and piano all played in the same little room at Walden Sound in LA where the album was recorded over the course of 5 weeks. No programming, no digital editing.

Dubuc describes Night & Day as, "it's a Motown record, man." Almost wholly influenced by the wide-ranging Motown scene of the '60s and '70s, Dubuc made a commitment upon embarking on his latest venture to discard all his previous techniques and time-tested paths, and start all over again�and it's an idea he's had brewing for quite a while.

"I sort of went deep into it and got to know all the artists," he says. "I set out to make a record like that, of all good moments, that are very reminiscent of those songs, except that they're modernized."

The album's first single is "Domino," a track about Dubuc's friends who gave up on everything in music and stopped trying to progress. "Used to be Sweet" was performed with Canadian artist Lights, whom he had met at the South By Southwest music festival. "It's sort of like Michael Jackson's 'The Girl Is Mine,' we're arguing back and forth." And "Fresh Start" is about, as its title implies, making a change. "For me, in that song, it's about writing a song," says Dubuc. "It's a song about writing a song and starting over with this new sound."

"I wanted to take a risk on this record, Dubuc continues. I feel like it has the potential to really move people to make people feel good about their situations in their lives. It's a soul record. If there's ever an all-encompassing Motown revival record, this is it."

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