For nearly 20 years, the two-man volcano that is Death From Above 1979 has been sporadically erupting shards of dance-infused hardcore punk. Sebastien Grainger (vocals/drums) and Jesse F. Keeler (bass/synthesisers/backing vocals) have been an unstable entity with a famously fractious relationship with the media and each other, having acrimoniously split in 2006 and lying dormant until 2011. The legal wrangling that led to the addition-removal-addition of “1979” to their moniker adds further to their combustible reputation and intrigue. With their volatile character and explosive sound, you’d be hard pressed to think of a band more aptly named. The most powerful of duos return as ‘Death From Above 1979’ with their fourth studio album: Is 4 Lovers - “lovers” being the joke nickname given to their committed fanbase.
Is 4 Lovers is a ten-track assault on the senses that traverses from trademark buzzing guitar, fuzz covered synths and processed sneering vocals to softer pop. Album opener “Modern Guy” is a brutal charge through industrial sounds with programmed drums, looping chop-saw riffs and heavily distorted vocals. It is jarring with a metallic aggression that approaches the levels of Nine Inch Nails or even Pitchshifter.
Lead single “One+One” follows and recalls the killer riffs, lust-filled lyrics and dance music structure that made their debut album You’re a woman, I’m a machine one of the most exciting records of the 2000’s. Indeed, Grainger has said in interviews that this track is inspired by the prospect of fatherhood and is the sequel to the seminal, sexually charged “Romantic Rights”. The track builds from a signature heavily fuzzed guitar and drum pairing into a complexly layered monster with multiple breaks and expansive vocals from Grainger.
Their DIY punk roots shine through on track “N.Y.C Power elite Part 1” which follows a more traditionally punk structure and provides a satirical takedown of the New York bourgeoisie. Album highlight “Totally Wiped Out” follows in a musically similar vein and the frenzied pace and ping-pong call-and-response vocal refrain set this up to be a live favourite.
From then on however, they take us down a different avenue. For the remainder of the album the chainsaw guitar riffs take a backseat and we hear a more electronica-based melodic work from the duo. This is exemplified on the skipping keys and soft vocals of “Love Letter”. It’s hard to equate the soft synths and melodic vocals singing “Love letters write themselves so take this with a kiss” with the welding-torch onslaught that has gone before. The pianos from Love Letter flow into penultimate track “Mean Streets” which juxtaposes this new softer sound with all out thrashing noise, reminding you that this is in fact still Death From Above.
Among these 10 tracks there is the venom that we’ve come to expect from Grainger and Keeler but they also range new ground. In the latter tracks there are uncharacteristically melodic and unabashedly pop tunes and at other times they produce frenetic, searing white noise. On Is 4 Lovers, DFA1979 blur musical borders; they’ve always made challenging music that has placed them outside traditional genres and without peers and this fourth record cements that. The album picks up where 2017’s Outrage is Now left off, but finishes somewhere quite different. I don’t fully understand it, but I definitely like it.
Review by Dan Ryan