Juan MacLean represents something of an archetype DFA artist: a reformed indie rocker who immersed himself in synth gadgetry and surrendered to the groove. He typifies the behind-the-scenes, slave-to-the-music vibe from which so much dance music springs, and like any great dance artist, Maclean's best work has come via his singles ("Happy House", "You Are My Destiny"). If James Murphy was the quarterback of the DFA roster, then Maclean was the president of the AV club.
If there's any extra urgency or excitement surrounding Maclean's third studio album, In A Dream, it's that DFA now lacks a flagship act, and Nancy Whang—frequent collaborator, In A Dream cover star, justification for the definite article preceding the Juan's name—seemed to be a burgeoning creative force herself in the waning days of LCD Soundsystem. Her work on In A Dream is among her best: brassy and affecting, she sings like a punk rocker whose feet have warmed to disco but not her heart.
Which is just as well: Maclean and Whang have been distilling the funk/punk out of this project since 2005's still beloved Less Than Human. To wit: within about a minute of the album's start—the cardio motorik of "A Place Called Space"—we're treated to a searing guitar lead. What Maclean and Whang have settled on here is a more muscular, downtown version of the type of reedy disco-pop that Lindstrøm & Christabelle explored on Real Life Is No Cool. In A Dream is hi-def synth boogie, flexing and preening in ways its forbears simply couldn't, as if old Ze Records and italo-disco classics had spent the last 30 years in the gym packing on studio wherewithal and audio fidelity.
When everything comes together, In A Dream is spectacular. "I've Waited For So Long" whips around hurriedly as Maclean and Whang trade verses and choruses. "Running Back To You" is a slo-mo bass gargle, with Whang's salt-corroded vocals bristling against the perfectly formed contours of the bass synth, which Maclean walks carefully on a leash for the song's duration. "A Simple Design" is the most compact, finest ever summation of this partnership, a simple, danceable track that finds the two dancing around each other, Whang's "la la la"s providing ample space for Maclean's flights of fancy before she grabs the chorus by the throat and caresses it gently.
Problems that have persisted throughout The Juan Maclean's output crop up here as well. Maclean is a less frequent and less irksome vocal presence than on prior records, though he's still uncompelling, pushing through the shoulda-been-anthemic peaks of "Love Stops Here" with affectless utterances. Maclean is a masterful synth programmer but not a singular one, and so sometimes In A Dream resembles those beautifully built urban townhouses, trading sturdiness for creativity and sapping some of the fun in the process.
That's the harshest grenade you can throw at In A Dream, though: it's too comfortable and robust. When the duo come in for the requisite 10-minute, album-closing jam, it feels earned, and it's motive and charming enough not to bore. In A Dream is Maclean and Whang's most fruitful, balanced partnership, and if it fails to truly make a star out of either of them, it cements them as the kind of ever-evolving collaboration DFA was built on.
