Undercover Dream Lovers at Brooklyn Steel
Opening for the generation-defining STRFKR, Undercover Dream Lovers stood side-by-side and played a spacey set.
The bigger the concert is never necessarily the better. It’s about who’s there. During the STRFKR show in Brooklyn last week, the crowd was transfixed in place for much of the performance. Not everyone — the short, bald man who squirmed his way up to my left side was cheering wildly and grooving to the set. He was an inspiration, or maybe he was just awake. It’s easy to drift off to the tune of nostalgia.
Before STRFKR could transport us back to a time when Nick and Nora’s Infinite Playlist inspired everyone to add Rawnald Gregory Erikson the Second to their own, the Undercover Dream Lovers took the stage and played music for an audience that stood somewhere in the clouds. It was lowkey, or what many people would walk away calling “a vibe.” Singer Matt Koenig is soft and wistful in his lyrics, and his instrumentals an electronic lullaby.
They Undercover Dream Lovers featured their most recent album, It’s All in Your Head. The band sounds like a time-bending fusion, mixing 70s disco themes with the more contemporary beats of an indie alternative group. The album is very synth heavy, almost always undercut by a bass line that sounds like it could be from the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack. You can do a *little* shuffle to it.
I’m surprised a song like Tightrope (Climbing to the Top) hasn’t blown up on TikTok, since this is where the disco revival is really happening. I could see it being selected as the sound for a “POV you see me under the disco ball” video. It’s groovy — less danceable, more something you’d snake your head to while staring dreamily ahead. At least, that’s what I did at the show. Undercover Dream Lovers paired well with STRFKR, but one also could see them performing with a group like MGMT or the mystifying Mild High Club.
Undercover Dream Lovers has been around since 2016, which is when Matt Koenig released my personal favorite of his songs Good Luck. It’s a brighter song than many of his others, though his vocals remain subdued. The instrumentals Koenig composes give his songs emphasis. Like many Undercover Dream Lovers songs, Good Look also features an excellent bass line. The song is up beat but doesn’t demand that you dance more than a toe tap. At the Brooklyn Steel, this seemed to be the extent of the crowd’s willingness to move. Now in 2022, Koenig continues to explore a future in music through a recollection of the past.
Matt Koenig, from Pittsburgh to Los Angeles, has never signed with a label. He’s kept Undercover Dream Lovers independent, which means he has never compromised his creative vision. The sounds of Undercover Dream Lovers have progressed over time, picking up speed. May they never slow down.
