Back in August, when Luis Dubuc, the man behind The Secret Handshake, released Night & Day, his ode to Motown pop and his departure from his mall-adored earlier electro-pop, the 25-year-old admitted to us that he was doing so with some trepidation. Rightfully so: These songs were vastly different from the material that his substantial crowds had come to expect.
Turns out, he was right. His fans didn't really take to the new sounds -- record and concert ticket sales both dropped significantly -- despite the fact that the new songs showed significant progression for the 25-year-old performer. In response, Dubuc announced to us back in December that he was done with his TSH name. Disheartening stuff, no doubt.
So, maybe as a white flag, or maybe just because he had nothing else to do with them, Dubuc earlier this week released for free via his Twitter account the few electro-pop TSH demo recordings he'd finished before getting inspired by his Motown muse. They're not bad -- more '80s-indebted than earlier TSH songs. But they're definitely worth the listen, if only as a study of an artist undergoing an identity crisis. Grab them after the jump.
"im not dumb. i know most of you didnt like my last album. i was going to release these. http://bit.ly/gULkSY"Grab them as a zip file by clicking the link above.
