In 1996, The Smashing Pumpkins released the video for “1979” - a song used as a transitional medium from adolescence to adulthood. The image of the girl in the car gazing out of the front window in some conscious dream has haunted my every transitional period since. What new song, what other progressive tune can back light my dream-like gazes? Many have come close in these ever so aurally lonely years, but it was not until recently that one has fit the bill, The Shocking Pinks, Nick Harte, has made the cut.

Harte’s voice will surprise the least judgmental of you which is reason enough to give him a spin. He appears to be in his early 20’s, at best, but when those lips part, his deep lispy and whispery voice is a slightly younger version of Canadian legend, Leonard Cohen. And his message is not so clear either - love, war, peace, desire, heartbreak or foreign policy lyrics growled while seated around a campfire in skull-printed black hoodies and faux hawks. Nick Harte is an idealistic hippie with tattoos and lo-fi principles, an unaffiliated nature.

When combined with the instrumentals, which are all played by Harte himself, what is formed is a musical genre fajita starting with disco punk and topped with indie-rock, new-wave, tragic sounding synthetics and garnished with some groove. But clicks and fuzz aside, DFA Records was smart to pick this kid up after his detachment from the Brunettes because he has jumped into the middle of the dance punk scene and made some thrashing room for himself.