The days feel like weeks and the weeks feel like months, so despite only being introduced to Johnny Dynamite and The Bloodsuckers back in March, we feel like we’ve known the Brooklyn artist and his bang-up band for quite some time now. So as we settle in with Dynamite’s new single, a feverish retro-pop blast of cool warmth called “Bats in the Woods,” it’s hard to not feel like an old friend has let us in on something special. The sonic callbacks to the ’80s are inescapable, but there’s just as much Hysteria-era Def Leppard lurking under the surface as the synth-pop bands that usually get cited here, and Dynamite’s heart-on-sleeve emotion pairs well with the track’s magnetic pull.
“This is about a romance with a friend who was fighting their inner demons, the bats,” Dynamite tells Big Takeover. “I wanted to make sure they found their inner peace before we got serious.”
“Bats in the Woods” was mixed and co-produced by Trey Frey of Born Losers Records label mates Korine, and Frey’s studio polish enhances an already spectacular structure. At a time when nostalgia for that particular decade has thrust us down the neon halls of silly revisionist history, Dynamite’s work and efforts come off as pure and sincere, the type of call-to-action that inspires. We’ve hyped Dynamite’s knack for musical story telling before — hell, he’s directly inspired by the illustrative work of his grandfather, acclaimed comic book artist Pete Morisi, with his moniker passed down from Morisi’s famed anti-hero detective character — but what we have here under the skin and sweat is just one hell of a pop song, the type heard in an teen adventure movie just as some real shit is about to go down.
Johnny Dynamite and The Bloodsuckers are indeed that old friend. And they have your back, so it’s time for you to get theirs.
Watch the Max R. Holland-directed video for “Bats in the Woods” below, and hang a pre-order around the heart of Dynamite’s forthcoming sophomore album, Sleeveless, out June 24 via Born Losers. It should make the summer swelt.