Ski Lodge – “Trust”

Let’s talk about John Hughes movies. I used to have a theory that straight chicks of a certain age and indie-leaning disposition would always go to bat for Pretty in Pink (and Duckie!), while their dude-equivalents were all about Some Kind of Wonderful and Mary Stuart Masterson as Watts, in particular. I mean, they’re pretty much the same movie with the genders flipped.

Thinking about Mr. Hughes’ oeuvre now, I feel as though their perennial teen appeal has everything to do with class (trés 80s) and outsiderness. Probably the most heartening thing you’re gonna discover as an outsider teen is that no matter how rich a douchebag like James Spader in a white suit is, he’ll never have something you got, and that’s cool.

You don’t need to study Pierre Bourdieu to know that cool is collateral. I mean, Pretty in Pink took a record store run by the endlessly cool Annie Potts as one of its primary settings for a reason. That’s the only place someone like Duckie has power. He knows ALL the lyrics to Otis Redding’s “Try a Little Tenderness,” and what’s Andrew McCarthy got? A whole lot of nothing.

The soundtracks to these flicks were essential, and probably a large part of the reason that suburban teens in the 80s caught onto The Smiths early and often.

Flash forward 28-odd years. Turns out this kid in Brooklyn—Andrew Marr, the driving force behind Ski Lodge—is doing his hardest OMD impression and wearing his 80s references with pride. Seriously, his latest track “Trust” sounds like it fell off The Breakfast Club soundtrack. And, if you think he’s kidding about these references, check out the Simple Minds cover he issued last year.

Bless these synth-loving kids.

The 7-inch vinyl version of “Trust”—because that really is the only way you should be listening to it, suburban teens—will be issued on February 23rd.