Is 4 Lovers - Death From Above 1979: Review
Death From Above 1979
is a Canadian duo who first emerged in the 2000's with a quintessential debut rock album on 2004's You're A Woman, I'm A Machine. After a nearly decade long hiatus the band returned in 2014 with a long awaited follow-up and have expanded that into two more albums since, culminating in the bands fittingly titled 4th album Is 4 Lovers.
Review By Lav:
DFA's debut album is a modern rock classic just as bonified as some of their contemporaries best work of the 2000's era. While they may not get the credit they deserve since they quickly faded out of the public consciousness I was excited to see the band return once I had become a more conscious listener by 2014. As it turns out it was the bands 3rd album 2017's Outrage Is Now that proved to be the bands true return to form delivering loud, focused and instantly catchy rock music from start to finish. I was wondering if the band would commit to some kind of new direction and the love song theme of the record felt like it may have been pointing in that direction. But when all is said and done the content of the record is going to sound very familiar to fans, but the execution tends to be hit or miss.
One + One was the albums first and only single in the lead up to its release and it's pretty much the exact driving fuzzy take on a love song that I was expecting from the band. They sound both enamored with and kind of over the whole thing at the same time and the mixing of vocals with different layers of distortion helps pull it off really well. One serves as the second track on the record and part of a great introduction to the album alongside Modern Guy. It's a wiry and noisy introduction with fast paced instrumental performances and dramatic vocals. If that sounds familiar you've probably heard any of the bands songs before and they really do this stuff well. The mix is packed while still making the hook feel like a rise in both excitement and intensity, the kooky percussion sounds that pop out of the mix are generally just a fun addition to wrap it all up.
The record also ends on a pair of good tracks starting with Mean Streets. It's exactly as exciting as I hoped it would be given the songs name. It starts off with a pretty composed passage that makes a direct reference to the film itself before completely erupting out of nowhere into a brash off kilter wall of sounds that is one of the most unpredictable things here. No War is a great closer that dials it back just a bit to focus on the lyricism with pretty good results. I like the jittery slightly manic guitar work particularly on the second half. They do meditative and reflexive sounds well without it ever getting dry or boring.
The final pair of highlights come in the middle of the record starting with N.Y.C Power Elite Part 1 which sees the band lambasting a sort of modernized version of yuppie culture with acute efficiency. The song is driving, upbeat and fun with an explosive personality on the vocals and a major highlight. Totally Wiped Out is fittingly enough a groovy surf rock take on the bands normal approach. It has a sullen catchy hook that maintains all of the strong musicality while switching it up stylistically. That doesn't mean the song never rocks as it can get high octane particularly in the 2nd half.
Love Letter is one of the slower cuts and it feels right given that it's a much more straightforward love song than anything else out here. I'm not a huge fan of the wandering hook especially given that there is far less instrumentation in the mix. The song has a good foundation but doesn't take the extra step to be one of the best tracks here. Free Animal is definitely an interesting track that takes the raw mixing style to a new level a few times. There are industrial grinding chords in the beginning of the track that sound really interesting despite being completely buried by everything else in the mix. I'm not crazy about the song in general but it would definitely be better if I could make out some of the unique sound play was presented in a more vivid way.
N.Y.C Power Elite Part 2 isn't nearly as fun as its predecessor starting with blown out guitars that feel really chunky and a good majority of the song is repetition though I'm not particularly blown away by the refrain. Glass Homes has some Daft Punkian synths in the mix and while they start off okay once the rest of the instrumentation comes in the role they play seems to disappear entirely. On top of this I'm not a huge fan of the short crunchy guitar riffing that sounds really unnecessary. I'm not sure why there is all this unnecessary noise surrounding the core of the song because I don't hate there track but there is way too much going on that just doesn't sound good.
Is 4 Lovers is straight to the point, up-tempo, distortion heavy rock and roll. While nothing here is necessarily revolutionary there are plenty of good fundamentals on display. When the band is working within their element they produce a handful of catchy exciting highlights but unfortunately not all of the tracks here take that approach. From strange mixing choices to underwhelming songwriting there are points on the record that don't really feel up to the bands standards. The results are a mixed bag but I'd be lying if I said I didn't enjoy more of it than I didn't and I'll be just as excited to hear what the band does next. 6/10
Album Cover Review By Tyler Judson:
This cover is unique and very vintage. I love skewing of the composition, that itself will draw a lot of attention. The coloring isn't distorted from what I hope is it's original color and almost every part of the space is used up and filled with something that keeps your eyes bouncing around. There's something lost without having branding or a title on this and that could've elevated the experience but it's till satisfying in my opinion. 8/10
For more rock check out my review of The Horrors Lout here
