One Track Mind

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If you’re going to name your husband and wife duo The Polyamorous Affair, you almost have to make the kind of music this Los Angeles band makes: glamorous, danceable, somewhat frigid dance-pop. On July 14th, the pair will release their sophomore record, the appealingly titled Bolshevik Disco, continuing Eddie Chacon and Sissy Sainte-Marie’s musical collaboration. Prior to forming The Polyamorous Affair, Chacon had worked with a panoply of artists and producers that included 2 Live Crew and the Dust Brothers, while Sainte-Marie had a decidedly lower-profile career as a school teacher.

“White Hot Magic” is a bubbling witches’ brew of influences. In it, one can hear Giorgio Moroder‘s electronic disco, Depeche Mode’s arpeggiated synthesizer melodies, Daft Punk’s love of vocoder and distorted guitar parts, and Factory Records‘ raw drum machine beats. One of the smartest parts of the song’s logic is its short track length; at precisely 2:30 in length, “White Hot Magic” is a crisp, sharp cut that never runs the risk of overstaying its welcome.

While the song isn’t going to land any awards for its originality (it doesn’t offer much you couldn’t have heard during the synth-pop golden years of the 1980s), it is a punchy, taut track that is easily quaffed. “White Hot Magic” may get some play in the clubs, will certainly get even more on the blogs, and is a fetching choice for those summer drives when you’ve got the windows down and your sunglasses on… at night.