Dakota Jones - Heartbreakers Space Club (Album) + 10 Questions

Following their acclaimed 2021 debut album Black Light, Brooklyn, NYC’s Dakota Jones are set to release their follow up Heartbreakers Space Club on June 2nd, expanding on their established soulful sound.

While their previous full-length found itself in old school grooves and sensibilities, the new album from Dakota Jones has one foot firmly in the future. Interestingly, Heartbreakers Space Club acts as a return to the band’s roots, experimenting and genre-bending as was the journey across a string of EPs and singles released prior to Black Light. Nevertheless, the retro stylings remain present on the new record with slick rhythms and organ keys while allowing room for the band to add futuristic elements to their sound, complete as ever with the powerhouse vocals of Tristan Carter-Jones. On heavy rotation during recording were the iconic Ziggy Stardust album by David Bowie, as well as D’Angelo’s discography and early Prince, an intriguing mix of music providing inspiration that can be heard throughout the album, yet still delivering the unwavering and uncensored confidence as well as a whole lot of joy that comes solely from Dakota Jones.

‘Heartbreakers Space Club - doubling as both something celestial and a place that you hold for yourself, is where you lose yourself to find yourself, break yourself down to build back up into the most authentic version of you. One moment you’re sitting in a dark corner of the bar smoking a cigarette, gazing out of the window into a candy pink sky, the next moment all of the walls disappear and you’re floating in the middle of nothing, weightless and without a care. Let it take you there.’ – Tristan Carter-Jones

Kicking off this cosmic journey is the intense psychedelia of ‘Moon Song’, introducing this new guise of Dakota Jones on a wild ride to another planet, accompanied by scuzzy guitars that suddenly drop and make way for a spoken word outro. Then it’s onto recent single ‘Misbehave Me’, gently overflowing with charisma and sensuality. As described by the band, ‘If Moon Song is the landing, Misbehave Me is exiting the ship, a stranger in a strange and glorious land. It's a moment of self-discovery and exploration in a world beyond your wildest imagination.’

Also within this flirtatious realm is lead single ‘Sugar Pie’, a slice of smooth funk that serves up a whole lot of fun with a raised eyebrow and crooked grin, celebrating the joy of love and ‘giving me sweet songs since day one’. ‘Feel Something’ raises the temperature higher, with Carter-Jones’ vocals soaring as the tune slinks along in a slow groove then explodes at the moment a saxophone enters the mix.

When asked if their home city of New York impacts their sound, Carter-Jones says, ‘Definitely. We wrote this album over the course of a full year, and throughout the year in New York you feel those distinct changes and differences in the seasons. It's not just the weather that's changing, it's the entire attitude of the city.’ The pulse of the city flows through ‘Dissent’N’Gin’, a nod to 90s hip-hop featuring Carter-Jones spitting bars and singing with equal effortlessness, with some record scratches thrown in for good measure as the crescendo unsteadily builds in a track described as ‘a jewellery heist in all black leather’.

Perhaps the most prominent example of Dakota Jones’ new era of experimentation is ‘Downtown’, tapping into a retro-futuristic sway that feels familiar at times and unexpected at others, unease creeping when the lyrics sing ‘I’m not scared, just a little bit apprehensive’. The pace picks up in this thread on ‘Scared’, a musical equivalent of short breaths and heart palpitations that explores a lack of trust in a relationship.

However, all is well for the album’s closing track ‘Countdown’ as this odyssey draws to a close for the return journey back to your own world. The band explain that with this track, ‘suddenly you're back in the middle of nowhere, nothing but stars, but it doesn't matter because you're hand in hand, off to the next adventure.’ A galloping end that looks towards whatever may happen next and, for Dakota Jones, the possibilities are endless.

Production duties on Heartbreakers Space Club were kept in-house, being overseen by the band’s very own bassist and multi-instrumentalist Scott Jet Kramp, which Carter-Jones says fed into the sense of freedom this record has: ‘His fingerprints and brain waves are all over this album, instrumentally, for sure. I would say that the biggest impact that this choice had on the record was that it allowed us space and freedom to do... really anything that we wanted to do. It was an extremely collaborative process and, because we've been making music together for so long, there was a real trust and openness there. We worked in a creative space that had no bounds, no preconceived notions, no worries, just freedom.’

Tristan Carter-Jones of Dakota Jones sat down with Wordplay Magazine to answer our infamous 10 Questions:

1. So tell me, how did it all begin? What sparked your love for music?

It's so hard to say, music has just always been like.. in my bones and around me and a part of me, for as long as I can remember. I know the band feels the same way. My mom says that I'm one of those kids that's been singing since before they could talk. It's just always been the thing that brings me the most joy.

2. Who are some artists that influence you and that you want to work with in the future?

Frank Ocean, Tyler the Creator, Earl Sweatshirt (I guess I could list just about every member of Odd Future, haha). Solange Knowles and Moses Sumney are very high on my list as well.

3. Tell us about your new album Heartbreakers Space Club and how ideas came about for this project?

Heartbreakers Space Club is our baby! Putting together this album, and finally being able to release it, has really been a labor of love. It's the album that we're most proud of, it's our favourite music we've ever made. I think that in large part has to do with the fact that we walked into the studio with no preconceived notions and no real plans. We just kind of let the music speak to us, and we played around and followed what felt right, no worries about genre or goxes or what we should do. It was just all feel.

4. How would you describe your sound?

It's kind of a musical gumbo. It's soul, rock, rap, hip-hop, sometimes jazz or the blues. Sometimes pop, sometimes R&B. Always heavy on the lyricism and emotion.

5. What's your proudest moment to date so far as a group?

Putting the finishing touches on Heartbreakers Space Club, hands down. When we got back the final masters for the album, it was like.. I don't know, we had just been waiting so long for that moment. To finally call it complete. We put our hearts and souls into this album. And then on June 2, once it's out in the world and we're able to share it with everyone, that'll be our new proudest moment haha.

6. Do you have any advice for our readers who may be trying to play the mad game of music?

If you really feel like music is what you're meant to do, go after it with everything you have and don't let go no matter what. It's an insane industry. A roller coaster. But if you want something, you just gotta hang on. You can't quit on yourself. I always feel like just sticking to it will set you apart from so many other people. That, and being relentlessly yourself.

7. Are there any artists on your radar right now that we should check out?

I'm so very into Blue Mena right now. And I'm endlessly grateful to be playing a show with them on June 2, in Brooklyn. At a place called Rubulad.

8. What albums are on heavy rotation on your Spotify playlist currently?

Rat Saw God by Wednesday and basically anything by Tems. I am obsessed obsessed obsessed with her voice.

9. What do you like to do when you're not making music?

Run, eat good food, and spend time with the people I love.

10. Name Three things you can't live without when in the studio?

Tea, honey, and comfy pants.