"This gorgeously morose disco track...puts pure misery up in neon lights, its brilliantly sad lyrics playing into a long tradition of mournful bangers"
- PAPER on "Miss You"
"‘Pre-Code Hollywood’...[is] blessed by the New Zealand artist's incredible sense of world-building." - CLASH
New Zealand’s Jonathan Bree today released his brilliant new album Pre-Code Hollywood via his own Lil’ Chief Records, in partnership with Secretly Distribution. He also shared a whimsical, cinematic new video for standout album track “When We Met.” Lamenting the arc of a relationship in which young love turns to old love (or worse), the song mourns the loss of both early infatuation, and–more cuttingly–the loss of who you once were in someone else's eyes. Across Pre-Code Hollywood, Bree explores these sorts of complicated, often poignant relationship dynamics with winking wisdom, all set to the stirring sounds of driving synths, bendy strings, and dark, orchestral electro.
Previous pre-release singles “Pre-Code Hollywood” and “Miss You” both feature sizzling guitar and production work from the legendary Nile Rodgers, and are part of a trilogy of music videos set in the late 1970’s on a fictional Top of the Pops-style live TV show called Radio Vision (also including “You Are The Man”). Dick Driver makes a guest appearance as the host, mimicking his role in New Zealand’s influential early music video program Radio With Pictures, which aired from 1976 to 1989 and was a catalyst for MTV. The singles earned great press from PAPER, CLASH, Brooklyn Vegan, The Alternative, Guitar World, and more.
A dark disco album full of sad bangers, Pre-Code Hollywood is Bree’s most exciting and pop-forward work to date. The album’s celestial opening notes transport listeners to a complex sonic world that celebrates classic pop of a bygone era, while experimenting with the avant-garde in a way that is distinctly modern.
Bree is well-known for his carefully crafted visual style; he and his band are never seen without their masks, an aesthetic on full display in the video for his breakthrough 2017 hit “You’re So Cool,” which has amassed over 29 million views on YouTube and was voted Time Out New York’s music video of that year. Gaining a cult following through extensive touring across the globe, this anonymous, masked persona also extends to his live shows, where he and his band play against a backdrop of cinematic projections created specifically for each song as two dancers perform otherworldly choreography.
out on March 09, 2023
via Lil' Chief Records
out on February 09, 2023
via Lil' Chief Records
out on October 20, 2022
via Lil' Chief Records
out on April 26, 2022
via Lil’ Chief Records
out on July 17, 2020
via Lil’ Chief Records