Pleasure Line

Video Age's third album, pairs neon-bright 80s pop melodies with a vast range of influences (including Janet Jackson, David Bowie, and Paul McCartney) to create an optimistic sound all their own. The influences vary song to song, but they're all tinted with the same rosy hue. 

But these aren't expressions of one-dimensional puppy love this is euphoria with depth, ecstasy with complications. In the twinkling Comic Relief, Ross sings, "I know the world is killing me / I love you baby, can't you see / Ain't nothing but a comedy." And in the funk-inspired Shadow on the Wall, Ross sings, "I got the gloom, baby, covering me / Cuz you're a cruel silhouette as could be." Darkness is always lurking somewhere beneath happiness, but in the Video Age, even melancholy sounds like something you can dance to. 

The songwriting duo has been playing music together for the past ten years after meeting in college - Ray says he was initially drawn to Ross' "old school cadence" and their shared love for dancefloor hits. Experimentation and play is crucial to their approach, as is collaboration. Joined by band members and multi-instrumentalists Nick Corson and Duncan Troast, Video Age recorded the album together in Ross' New Orleans home studio.

Pleasure Line is a salve that protects against cynicism, listening to this album, you can't help but feel the world around you is full of romantic potential.