Premiere: Dancing the Days Away with Dekker’s Grooving “Let’s Pretend”

Dekker © Emily & Katy
Dekker © Emily & Katy
A radiant, grooving folk song glowing with energy and passion, Dekker’s “Let’s Pretend” is an instant mood lifter here to brighten our days and nights.
Stream: “Let’s Pretend” – Dekker
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We needed dance and we needed joy. Since then, we’ve wore holes in the kitchen floor dancing to this one.

Dekker’s latest single is utterly and absolutely hypnotic: The kind of song you can’t help but move to, thanks to a driving rhythm and pulsing beat that force us out of our seats and into a state of motion. A radiant, grooving folk song glowing with energy and passion, “Let’s Pretend” is an instant mood lifter here to brighten our days and nights.

Let's Pretend - Dekker
Let’s Pretend – Dekker
Are you already anxious
I know I am
How are we gonna save this
Because we have to
Let’s get up. Let’s pretend
That the floor is made of lava
Count how long we can spend
In the air, floating above it

Atwood Magazine is proud to be premiering “Let’s Pretend,” the latest single taken from Dekker’s forthcoming sophomore album I Won’t Be Your Foe (out May 20, 2022 via Useful Fictions / Wagram Music). The musical moniker for American-born, Nottingham-based Brookln Dekker, Dekker formally debuted in 2019 and has been treating audiences to his intimate brand of alt-folk wonder ever since. 2020’s debut album Slow Reveal: Chapter One is an absolutely enthralling listen that deserves audiences’ continued attention. Meanwhile, the past year’s singles already evidence Dekker’s musical growth and explorations beyond the realms of his first LP, with songs like the lush, achingly visceral “Do It All Again” and the gently buoyant folk-pop tune “Maybe October” beckoning not only our ears, but also our hearts.

I know you’ve heard me say this
I hope it moves you
And that it is contagious
To move like you do
Step with the mood and cadence
Just like we used to
Let’s shake it for the ages
Let’s get up. Let’s pretend
That the floor is made of lava
Count how long we can spend
In the air, floating above it

A definitive product of the pandemic, “Let’s Pretend” is a fast-paced folk tune intended to spark a little movement in the moment’s inherent stasis. Dekker sings about overcoming present challenges and making the most of our time together, through being present and even playing pretend. “Don’t matter where we land, as long as we’re holding hands,” he sings at one point. “Don’t matter where we go as long as we’re moving.”

“I wrote this song during the one of the COVID lockdowns we had in England,” Dekker tells Atwood Magazine. “I was trying to write songs that could inspire my daughter to dance. She is 7 and not easily impressed by her father’s folk songs. Besides, we didn’t need melancholy around the Dekker house in those days. We needed dance and we needed joy. Since then, we’ve wore holes in the kitchen floor dancing to this one. It’s fun, I hope you like it.”

Dekker © Emily & Katy
Dekker © Emily & Katy



Armed with little more than his acoustic guitar (and at one point, a lilting, muted piano), Dekker invites us all to join him in a sweet, innocent escape. Get up and dance along to “Let’s Pretend,” streaming exclusively on Atwood Magazine!

Dekker’s sophomore LP I Won’t Be Your Foe is out May 20, 2022.

Don’t matter where we land
As long as we’re holding hands
Don’t matter where we go
As long as we’re moving
Let’s get up. Let’s pretend
That the floor is made of lava
Count how long we can spend
In the air, floating above it

— —

:: stream/purchase Dekker here ::
Stream: “Let’s Pretend” – Dekker
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Let's Pretend - Dekker

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