PREMIERE: Safer Brings That Beat Back with “Good Things”

The Rapture co-founder returns with a new take on the early-’00s disco-punk sound.
PREMIERE: Safer Brings That Beat Back with “Good Things”

The Rapture co-founder returns with a new take on the early-’00s disco-punk sound.

Words: Scott T. Sterling

photo by Ilya Knight

April 30, 2019

Disco-punk’s not dead.

The cheeky genre tag that sprang up in the early-’00s with the advent of DFA Records, LCD Soundsystem, and all things Brooklyn was all but personified in the lightning bolt that was The Rapture’s 2002 single, “House of Jealous Lovers.”

All disco hi-hats, wailing vocals, and propulsive bass lines, the cowbell-heavy track would launch a thousand like-minded indie bands valiantly attempting to rock dance floors with slashing guitars.

Almost twenty years later, that same disco-punk aesthetic is back, thanks in large part to the originators. The Rapture announced it was returning to action in 2019, with singer Luke Jenner revealing the band’s reunion on Facebook. The news was followed shortly with the reveal that The Rapture would be performing at the inaugural Just Like Heaven festival in Long Beach.

RELATED: Just Like Heaven Brings Classic Indie Rock to Long Beach 

Digging deeper into the band’s reunion announcement, many were shocked to see that original bass player Mattie Safer was no longer in the fold.

Instead, he’s coming back to music on his own terms with a new solo project, Safer. “Good Things” is the debut release.

“’Good Things’ is a song that I wrote back while I was still in The Rapture for what would have been my third album with them, but things were so fractured that no one could catch the vibe,” Safer revealed. “It’s a song I wrote about the disconnect when you are in a ‘fun’ situation where you are supposed to be having a great time, but can’t enjoy because of an innate, fatalistic feeling that it’s not actually fun at all, and everything is about to go to hell. I guess, as usual, the song knew more than I knew, and it’s pretty fitting that it’s one of the last songs I wrote with The Rapture in mind.”

As such, “Good Things” seethes with the same manic and dance-floor directed energy that permeated much of The Rapture’s best-known work. With a deep disco groove and post-punk guitars, the song brings backs those 2002 vibes with a new energy, recalling David Byrne and Talking Heads in the controlled chaos. The refrain, “Somehow the good things never last,” feels particularly poignant in light of the track’s genesis.

“Good Things” is set for release on May 1. Listen to it below.

Safer will take it to the stage with a May 1 release show at Brooklyn’s Union Pool. Get more information here.