Dragonette

It’s been almost four years since Toronto-based leftfield popsters Dragonette put out a full-length album – an eternity in Pop years. Though they’ve hardly been idle in that time. The touring around 2012 LP Bodyparts, coupled with their smash collaborations with French DJ Martin Solveig, saw them almost constantly continent-hopping, sometimes swinging from Paris to Manila in a single weekend. They did tours of the US with Major Lazer, Miike Snow and the Presets, played to a packed mid-day tent at Coachella, graced festival stages on five continents, and saw more of their native Canada than they had in their now decade-long history as a band.

After a bit of depressurization, the band hit the studio, not only working on new material for themselves, but also collaborating with top-flight electronic music producers from across the planet. Though many of these have not yet been released, their work with Dutch Producer Mike Mago, “Outlines,” hit the Top 20 in over 10 countries, including scoring them their first UK Top 10 hit. Their work with US beatmaster Big Data was synched 10 times during its first 5 weeks in public, most notably in the high-profile trailer for the Entourage movie. One of two collaborations with Swedish hitmakers Galantis, “Peanut Butter Jelly,” is burning up the US radio charts as we write this, and looks to be their most successful pairing of all. All this work with other people has provided fresh fuel for the Dragonette mothership, as they’re currently putting the finishing touches on their as-yet-untitled fourth album.