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Hear Dragonette’s Electro-Pop Blast ‘Rocket Ship’

Dragonette / Photo by Kristin Vicari

When Dragonette released rock-charged electro-pop yeasayer “I Get Around” in 2007, the Canadian band’s neon hybrid of fist-pumping blare and rave-friendly strobe was still the stuff of French boutique-label compilations and niche blogs, not corporate mega-deals, awkward Grammy Awards mega-mixes, and lamestream media thinkpiecery. By the time of last year’s cheerfully brain-searing summer-smash collaboration with French house producer Martin Solveig, “Hello” — so catchy it was actually in a bubblegum commercial — “EDM” was well on its way to becoming a boardroom-ready buzz term, Molly a familiar girl next door, “Skrillex” a universally identifiable haircut. What set Dragonette apart was a song canny enough not to promise any more than it delivered (“I’m here, darling, to enjoy the party”), and frontwoman Martina Sorbara’s unplaceable, irrepressible coo.

Dragonette’s latest muscular dance-pop diva showcase, “Rocket Ship,” delivers what no-strings-attached introduction “Hello” was so careful not to over-promise. For the tweens, there’s expert puppy-love fluff (“You launched your rocket ship into the empty pit in my heart”). For the rest of us dancing, drink in hand, there’s a none-too-subtle 50 Shades of Grey shade of sexual abandon (“I sure like what you’re getting at, just don’t tell me where you learned that”; “Just say the part, I’ll play the role”; “I’m all full up with your love”). For the band, there’s the shift from friendly greeting to the next phase of global conquest: “Gonna get this whole world in the know,” Sorbara declares, waking the neighbors and screaming across the airwaves, too. There’s still no pressure for anything more than a fun romp, but Dragonette aren’t the only ones who might be falling in love.