Regarding DMA'S' eponymous latest and fifth album, lead guitarist Matt Mason said "I want to make those day one fans happy".
The verse in lead single My Baby’s Place was penned by Mason “about seven years ago”. He was single and yearning for a connection back then, while squatting – together with frontman Tommy O’Dell – in an abandoned building. The chorus flashes forward to 2026: Mason is married now – he found love.
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Written with 3% rapper Nooky, opener El Alamein is classic DMA’s. After just a coupla strums, O’Dell’s distinctive beseeching timbre enters (“All my worries goin’ on/ Biting like a piranha…”. Crashing drums enter the mix and we’re off!
A lovelorn ballad (Windows), immediately memorable choruses (Hurracane – why misspelt, though?) – this is classic DMA’S, orright.
Standout anthem Heatin Park’s warped, elongated, ascending riffs amp up the euphoria. Emailz is built from a hopeful, singsongy circular hook. With its rhythmic, metallic riffs, One & Only is for mass pogoing with your arms around mates: “‘Cos you’re my one and only more than you ever knew!”
During the softly swaying Dancing Luck, O’Dell’s winsome timbre – like a lost lamb bleating in a field – is showcased to perfection; his upper register is pukka!
This year marks ten years since the Sydney trio’s debut record, Hill’s End, captured global attention (in the UK, especially). They’ve always created Britpop-inspired guitar music. But DMA’S’ mad respect for ’90s electronic music infiltrated their previous set – 2023’s How Many Dreams? (Orbital even remixed one track) – which, it turns out, was a temporary detour.
LABEL: SONY
RELEASE: 21 AUG
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