“1979” is less a song and more a feeling, and perhaps even a destination. Its smoky textures and urban groove suggest a late-night uptown club, a place of sophistication and ultimate cool, and perhaps even more than that, New York City itself, with the titular date stamp playing out in its blends of jazz saxophone and Julius Rodriguez liquid keyboards, not to mention the echo of beats that have come straight from the disco dance floor of those times.
It’s music as time travel, or at least an amalgam of settings and scenes, eras and genres, a sort of history lesson and sonic postcard from a city that seems to have either invented or at least embraced every musical form through the ages.
But that makes “1979” sound almost academic, about education rather than artistry, but it is certainly both. At nearly seven minutes, it takes its time to play all its sonic cards, and its length is a reminder that the idea of an extended mix was first invented in those dance clubs and DJ halls as a to way to keep the punters happy and on the dancefloor.
Here, the blend of groove and sophistication, energy and artfulness, fun and finesse, is both an echo of the past and a slice of present-day originality, and a reminder that, as genres become less important and musicians more adventurous, such music is also a taste of what’s to come, now that the rulebook is being rewritten and the restrictive sonic gloves are off.
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