In a year defined of bank bail-outs and 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 massive vault, this space served as the band's studio as they recorded their sophomore effort, Strange Hearts. 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 it is elusive and peculiar.