The thing that's missing from so much of the 80s fetishism that we've seen in the last 10ish years is the feeling of it all. Needless to say, being alive in the 80s had a very distinct, very unique feel, and it's reflected in the commercials, your favorite movies, and especially the music. Yet nobody can quite seem to bring it back, hard as they may try. An "80s party," of course, feels absolutely nothing like the 1980s.

I think that time was so outlandish that it's impossible actually to empathize with our 80s selves and understand what the f--- they were thinking! This inability to relate makes imitation difficult. In contrast, I think you can kind of step into the 1960s, for example, intellectually and feel pretty comfortable.

ANYWAY, the point is, Twin Shadow have that feeling in spades. There are some clear musical touchstones, like the drama in Morrissey's voice, Depeche Mode-ish industrial dance rock, even a little early U2 sprinkled in. Cheap synths, drum machines, dance-y, expressive bass lines (I never realized how 80s that was!), lots of twinkling. But it's the vibe, the dreamy quality to the music, which can't quite be described - some strange combination of nostalgia and the future is now - or imitated, that I find so convincing and compelling. Listening to them is a little like stepping into a John Hughes film.