Talk about an album title that truly signposts a major sea change. For the past several years, Luis Dubuc (a.k.a. The Secret Handshake) has penned and recorded scores of songs by himself, calling every shot and overseeing every step in the process. His fusion of sugary pop hooks, laid atop samples and caked with computer-enhanced effects, had become Dubuc’s signature electronic-pop sound and landed him the sort of success many in the indie circuit could only wish for.
But for his latest full-length, Dubuc wasn’t going to find himself recording another batch of similar tracks. Enter Night & Day, which holds fast to its title’s pronouncement of seemingly polar opposites. Granted, those gripping melodies are still firmly in place, but that’s likely where the similarities between Dubuc’s back catalog and his latest creation end.
As Dubuc quite succinctly describes Night & Day, “it’s a Motown record, man.” Almost wholly influenced by the popular scene of the ‘60s and ‘70s, Dubuc made a commitment to discard all his previous techniques and time-tested paths, and start all over again—an idea he’s been brewing for quite a while.
“I’ve been working on just inching towards this since my very first record,” he says. “There’s a song called ‘Make You Mine’ on (2007’s) One Full Year and it sounds a lot like Prince. It’s very funky and soul. You get to the next record (My Name Up In Lights) and it’s sort of half-and-half. And with this I just laid down the gauntlet and said that I’m going to make a full record.”
Getting to this point has been a lengthy journey for Dubuc, who grew up in a non-musical family and made many of his own musical discoveries. “My first CD ever was a metal band and then my next CD was Wu-Tang Clan’s 32 Chambers,” he recalls. “And still today, I take it all in, I listen to music of all styles.”
The Secret Handshake launched in 2004 as Dubuc’s solo project, self-releasing Antarctica, his debut full-length. He had signed to Triple Crown Records and released his label debut, The Summer of ’98 EP and the One Full Year full-length in 2007. His second Triple Crown full-length, My Name Up in Lights, followed in 2009.
Tapping the classic Motown sound was not initially inspired by music, but more indirectly by motion pictures. Years ago, while watching a movie, Dubuc caught a sequence of a character “having the time of his life,” and was quickly intrigued by the background music, which imparted a sense of optimism and spirit he had not previously encountered.
“I told my wife that I wanted to only hear songs like that,” says Dubuc. “And she said, ‘You mean, Motown?’ And I said, ‘Yeah, I guess.’”
Dubuc’s wife assembled a Motown compilation CD that became the catalyst for his shift in musical direction. “I sort of went deep into it and got to know all the artists,” he says. “I set out to make a record like that, of all good moments, that are very reminiscent of those songs, except that they’re modernized.”
Embarking on such an endeavor was no easy feat for Dubuc, who was used to recording albums with little outside involvement. However for Night & Day, Dubuc relinquished his production and performance reins, setting aside the samplers, sequencers, synths and sound effects, replacing them with real performers, real instrumentation, tracked in a real recording studio using reel-to-reel analog tape (in fact, it’s the same tape machine used in the Motown recording studios).
Dubuc got his initial start on the album cutting demos at home using his array of synths and samplers. However, when he arrived in Los Angeles to work with producer Noah Shain, everything Dubuc knew about recording an album had changed.
Shain’s involvement with the album was integral to its success, as the producer invested more than just his time, but his passion. “He said, ‘This is the record I’ve waited my whole life to make,’” says Dubuc of Shain.
With Night & Day, Dubuc found himself performing far less than his previous albums. For instance, session musicians were hired and laid a majority of the basic tracks.
Dubuc says that each song on Night & Day attempts to represent a different era of Motown recordings. Influences are wide ranging, including The Temptations and Jackson 5, plus Motown-inspired hitmakers like Blood, Sweat and Tears and Tower of Power.
The album’s first single is “Domino,” a track about those who’ve become complacent in their music. “Used to be Sweet” was performed with Canadian artist Lights. (“It’s sort of like Michael Jackson’s ‘The Girl Is Mine,’” he says. “In this song we’re sort of arguing back and forth.”) And “Fresh Start” is, as its title implies, about making a change. It’s autobiographical in Dubuc’s case, writing about penning a song and starting over with a new sound.
“I wanted to take a chance,” Dubuc continues. “I wanted to take a risk on this record. I want to challenge people. I feel like it’s a special record. I feel like it has the potential to really move people to make people feel good about situations in their lives. It’s a soul record. Putting myself aside and letting these other people play my songs, it was the most rewarding experience I ever had. I wanted an authentic sound with the new style. My voice is still very much 2010 but the music is very much Motown and that’s where it becomes more accessible than some of the other people trying to do Motown right now… If there’s ever an all-encompassing Motown revival record, this is it.”
