Freezepop have announced a December 7th, 2010 release date for their fourth full-length album, Imaginary Friends.Freezepop was born in the mind of founding member Kasson Crooker (aka "The Duke") during the idle hours spent tinkering with a Yamaha QY-70 in a van between gigs with his previous band.
Upon returning to Boston at the end of the tour, The Duke recruited Jussi Gamache (aka "Liz Enthusiasm") as his vocalist and Sean Drinkwater as keyboardist. The young trio set forth to develop a project based on minimal synthpop in a time when electropop was still only a blip on the indie radar.
In a flash, the DIY machine of Freezepop had developed an ecstatic following in Boston and the Northeast, released their debut album and were soon on tour across the U.S. as well as Europe, where they signed to renowned indiepop label Elefant. It was shortly after the release of the band's second EP that The Duke started working for a young start-up company called Harmonix, and the rest, as they say, is history.
The band's now iconic track "Less Talk More Rokk" was selected for inclusion in Guitar Hero II. The track became the iTunes #4 dance/electronic single of 2007 and went on to sell over 100,000 downloads.
Soon after, the band released Future Future Future Perfect via Cordless/Rykodisc their much lauded third full-length album that matched the runaway success of "Less Talk More Rokk" with fervent excitement among critics.
In 2009, The Duke amicably left the band to focus on other endeavors. Sean Drinkwater and Liz Enthusiasm, who had come into their own as prominent songwriters, forged ahead with the writing and recording process while recruiting two new members who they christened Robert John "Bananas" Foster and Christmas Disco-Marie Sagan.
Some may see Imaginary Friends as the grown-up Freezepop. With a whimsical spirit still intact, Imaginary Friends is a more impactful and refined record than fans have heard in the past. For the first time, new songs from this record were tested out on live audiences rather than being crafted solely in the studio, which in many ways streamlined Freezepop's sound into a focused force that reflects the energy of the live show. Dead-pan vocals from Liz Enthusiasm float over the band's electro-gadget musings with grace while punchy beats propel the album into pure sonic bliss. Lyrically, the band forms their own binary code of sorts, exploring themes of duality and disguise, with tracks such as "Doppelganger," "Special Effects," and "House of Mirrors." Songs like "Lose That Boy," and "Hypothetically" offer pop-melodies with a wink, while tracks like "Imaginary Friend," "Lady Spider" and opening track "Natural Causes" are sophisticated no-fuss dance masterpieces. With Imaginary Friends, Freezepop take the leap from guitar heroes to dance floor legends.
Visit www.freezepop.com to download free single "Magnetic"
Track listing for Imaginary Friends:
1. Natural Causes
2. Lose That Boy
3. Doppelganger
4. Special Effects
5. Strange
6. Magnetic
7. We Don't Have Normal Lives
8. Hypothetically
9. Imaginary Friend
10. Lady Spider
11. Hot Air Balloons
12. House of Mirrors