DEATH FROM ABOVE 1979 - IS 4 LOVERS
On their fourth LP, the aptly titled Is 4 Lovers, Toronto dance-punks DFA1979 crank out ten new songs that are decidedly more electronic and experimental than the stoner-rock found on 2017's Outrage! Is Now. Right from the first notes of album opener "Modern Guy," it's near impossible to discern which parts Jesse Keeler is playing on synth and which parts he is playing on bass. Indeed, his current arsenal of pedals allows him to create sounds on the bass vastly different than anything heard on the 2004 landmark You're a Woman, I'm a Machine LP.
Following hot on the heels of "Modern Guy" is lead single "One + One," the spiritual sequel to the 2004 single "Romantic Rights." Where "Romantic Rights" was all about hooking up with girls, "One + One" is all about making babies with the girl ("One plus one is three, that's magic"). Arguably the hardest rocking and most straight-forward rock song on Is 4 Lovers, it's also the catchiest and most immediately accessible song on the album. What follows is a trilogy of songs that offer a mediation on what it means to be free in the 2020's -- "Free Animal," "NYC Power Elite Part I" and "NYC Power Elite Part II." Equal parts disregard for technology mixed with some pandemic tension, and in the case of "NYC Power Elite Part I," the corrupting influence of too much money, Sebastien Grainger offers a grim snapshot of modern life. "NYC Power Elite Part II" looks at life through the prism of one of Grainger's elderly relatives looking at the end of life and coming to terms with the physical limitations of one's own body. It's heady stuff to be sure, but we've come to expect no less from DFA1979.
The back half of the album offers further commentary on the uglier sides of modern life. "Totally Wiped Out" tells a cautionary tale of internet porn addiction told through a series of literal surfing metaphors. "Glass Homes" succinctly sums up the current state of the political divide in America, ultimately making the case that we're all just "throwing stones from glass homes." "Love Letter" is the first true ballad of DFA1979's canon, an appropriate song Grainger wrote for longtime partner and mother of his first child, Eva Michon, effectively serving as the bookend to "One + One."
Things get pretty murky by the album's close. The one-two punch of "Mean Streets" and "No War" offer no real resolution, but hint at the promise of global uncertainty and violence on the horizon. It's not the most optimistic note to end an album on, but it's real. Coming from a band that's been known to go ten years between albums, it's not likely we'll get a follow-up to Is 4 Lovers anytime soon. Only time will tell if Grainger's prophecies are an accurate description of events to come -- in the mean time, we'll just have to keep dancing to Is 4 Lovers.
-Leks Maltby