Wonderers, wanderers, and Weekend Lovers; press photo courtesy of Velvet Gefiltefish.

Some of the best artists have the ability to create works that oscillate between the wide awake worlds and the wildly imaginative lands of dreams. The magic to dig beneath the surfaces of consciousness for all that can hardly be logically explained in terms that make sense. They have the skill to take the audience on paths that move between the perceptive conjuring of the concrete kingdoms, to the subterranean scenes, and catacombs comprised of images and events generated in states of rapid eye movements (and more). These artists act as the magicians that bring these respective realms closer together, breaking down the walls that separate these polarities and create a bridge between the tangible, the ephemeral, the material, the psychological, sentimental, societal, and so forth.

Perfecting this creative tightrope endeavor is one of Tucson’s top bands Weekend Lovers as they roll out their anticipated new album In Your Dreams. Lead by the iconic and mighty Marta DeLeon (previously of the New York and Seattle scenes), with guitarist Dane Velazquez, and percussionist Rick Bailey; the trio present their biggest album of expansive consciousness where the interior/exterior of experience becomes blended and blurred. Recorded by Steven Lee Tracy at St. Cecilia Studios with mastering by Dana Fehr, In Your Dreams beautifully articulates the heart and spirit of these strange times with a tight orchestration and assembly built upon the pop cultural canons of the latter 20th century institutions.

In Your Dreams adapts the ontological into the manifestation of visceral musical movements. “Rad Red” rages with a sense of macabre intensity, a dazzling collision of the senses that springs forth into fights and flights with emotions of escape and self-preservation. With the feeling of running set into motion, Weekend Lovers gallop with the confidence, swagger, sweetness, and glee of “Legs”, that arrives at the up close and personal reckoning of “Not Chill”. These inner and outward examinations carry ahead on “Here’s a Story” that rocks with one foot stepping in time to trad rhythms and the other according to a modern sensibility. “Masks” ponders the feigned games of pretend, and masquerades that obfuscate honesty in a big production that rides high on the wings of their New Romantic forebears.

Grooving into “Greasy Diamond”, Weekend Lovers deliver up dirty licks that revel into the gems that are encrusted among the junk, castaway stones, and rugged alloys. The vulnerable intimacy of “Marta Piñata” battles the insecurities of being a human in a harsh world. Like an update of the pop classic “Rag Doll”, Marta meditates on the feelings of being used by the world and the self-conscious feelings of anxiety and alienation amid a planet trending on the side of hostilities and animosity toward all of humanity. “Wye Oak” steps with the indie pop suave reminiscent of your favorite cult band on Merge, Matador, or recent Sub Pop signing.

Sparks, energy, lights, and Weekend Lovers live in the act; press photo courtesy of the artists.

The ‘Lovers cover of Sade’s “Sweetest Taboo” transforms the sublime original into a counter culture future classic that adds a new emotional intensity that feels immediate and raw in passions that shake the body and soul in breathy, harmonic whispers. In Your Dreams is a trip to those mysterious places we retreat to when the world becomes to much: the latent streams of desires, fears, hesitations, and hopes for what we wish the world could be. Perceptions of limitless possibilities — in the face of seemingly unlimited impossibilities, weighted under the duress of what feels like infinite adversity.

Marta DeLeon offered the following exclusive meditations on the making of the new album:

In Your Dreams spans our back on track writing, getting back on the merry-go-round of playing live shows again in a new post pandemic world. Sometimes personal or entertaining from the rebellious and political track “Greasy Diamond” ala The Kills, to the reflection of keeping one’s generational trauma to themselves of “Not Chill”.

Off the wall with Weekend Lovers; press photo courtesy of Velvet Gefiltefish.

We muse about a simpler time of seeing shows and playing them as much as one could count subway trains or late night hangs in “Here’s A Story”, which ends with a bittersweet outro of playing and trying all your life to chase dreams.

Weekend Lovers’ In Your Dreams is out now.

PREMIERE | Weekend Lovers, 'In Your Dreams'