Private’s ‘Everywhere’ Makes it Pop

ABOVE: THOMAS TROELSEN. IMAGE COURTESY OF JONATHAN FRANTINI

It’s been five long years since Copenhagen-based band Private put out anything new stateside. Even with praise sung by tastemakers like Diplo and a remix of theirs appearing in a Prada ad, they’re still mostly unknown to the American ear. Their first album, released in 2007, spawned two #1 hits in Denmark; both the title track, “My Secret Lover,” and the ’90s-tinged “Crucify My Heart” listen better than most American pop hits released the same year. It could be due to the group’s ringleader and producer, Thomas Troelsen, knowing so much about what pop lovers crave (he’s most notably produced Junior Senior’s “Move Your Body”), and titrating his formula to get that perfectly retrofitted synth-pop sound over and over again.

He’s gone back to the laboratory for his latest single, “Everywhere,” released via Universal Denmark this past Monday. In between managing his design blog, “WEAREPRIVATE,” Troelsen’s managed to craft a dance-floor hit that could, if given the airplay, fix US radio for good. On the first LP, Troelsen coagulated Prince’s silken-sheet sound of the 1980s and combining it with Michael Jackson’s disco days, he’s onto another thing entirely this time around. Just as he abandoned “My Secret Lover’s” tight-legged Edwardian look, he’s chosen an equally bright colored suit and video director (Bijoux Altamirano) to match the new track’s sunny sound. Wielding an androgynous Italo-disco melody and cinching it to the illict hypeman shouts of G-Unit’s recently signed emcee, Genasis, “Everywhere” is something of a sarcastic sonic grin—an in-the-know middle finger to today’s Euro pop. (“Guetta who?”)

“Everywhere” gives you everything: happy-go-lucky ABBA harmonies done in falsetto, driving synths, some Spanish guitar, a New Jack Swing kick and a tribal drum dance break. In just under four minutes, Private takes us everywhere Savage Garden couldn’t. Now boarding…

FOR MORE ON PRIVATE, VISIT THE BAND’S WEBSITE.