In a year full of bail-outs and bank failures, Secret Cities found themselves fortunate to occupy the basement of a recently abandoned bank in Kansas City, Missouri. Complete with bulletproof glass, functioning pneumatic tubes, and a giant vault, this space served as the band's studio as they recorded their sophomore effort, Strange Hearts.

After recording their debut at a glacial pace – it took over five years, Secret Cities decided to try something radically different. Working against a self imposed deadline, Strange Hearts was written and recorded within three intense, creatively fertile (if sleepless) months. The effort paid off with a taught pop record, crystallized like coal under enormous pressure. Filtering the classic romanticism of Dusty Springfield and the Shangri-Las through their own kaleidoscopic aesthetic, these songs pulse with an alluring mixture of melancholy and hopeful innocence, as warm and inviting as they are elusive and peculiar. While carefully crafted, the album possesses a newfound brevity and directness rooted in the excitement of creation. Ultimately, Strange Hearts is the sound of a young band testing its limits and finding that it hasn't hit them yet.