Death From Above 1979

Unprolific disco-punks stray from the blueprint on brief but diverse fourth LP.

Death From Above 1979’s fourth album in 20 or so years is a slight thing – 10 tracks in half an hour – but it covers some ground. The first half rifles through their familiar bag of production tricks, dropping out from the din for passages of breathy vocal and bristling hi-hat, and finding infinite inspiration in superdistorted bass lines. The sleek thrills of Modern Guy (like QOTSA playing through a crappy transistor radio) and the slithery dancefloor riffage of One + One are highlights. The weirder and more diverse second side is where stuff gets interesting. The disco overpowers the rock on Glass Homes, its jumble of strobing primitive synth lines and sly Beck-playing-Prince vocals conjuring a triumph, while the exquisite gloom of the goth-y Love Letter and the windswept dime-store Marc Almond-isms of closer No War broaden their dance-punk palette.