Photo Credit: Norman Wong
DEATH FROM ABOVE 1979 (DFA), the boundary pushing musical alliance made up of Sebastien Grainger and Jesse F. Keeler, have released their new single ‘One + One’ via Spinefarm/UMG. Along with the first single, the band have dropped a surprise announcement of their fourth album, Is 4 Lovers, due for release on 26th March 2021.
‘One + One’ arrives as an unmistakably DFA-esque track and the first taste of new music since their 2017 release, Outrage! Is Now.
Check out the video for ‘One + One’ here: http://DFA1979.lnk.to/OnePlusOneVideo
Stream/purchase ‘One + One’ here: https://dfa1979.lnk.to/OnePlusOne
“‘One + One’ is a love song,” says Grainger. “It’s the karmic sequel to ‘Romantic Rights’. My wife, Eva, became pregnant not long after we started working on the song and after hearing an early version she said, ‘I wish this song was dancier’. So I went back into the studio and re-worked the drums. As the record was taking shape, every time I would come home from the studio the baby would start dancing in Eva’s belly. Even before I walked in the room the party would start. One plus one is three, that’s magic!”
In the music video, created as a collage of disparate frames and moments inspired by the photography of artist David Hockney, was shot in Marmora, Ontario and directed by Eva Michon, who also helmed the band’s documentary, Life After Death from Above 1979 (2014).
“Since we started playing people would come up to the stage and after and say: I can’t believe there’s just two of you,” explains Grainger. “The video for ‘One + One’ is Eva’s way of showing that our band is greater than the sum of its parts. It’s DEATH FROM ABOVE 1979 in multitudes.”
The new album, which Grainger and Keeler wrote, produced, mastered and recorded entirely by themselves, captures the creation of a totally new sound and a reimagining of the format they created more than 20 years ago. DFA has never sounded more assuredly like themselves than they do on Is 4 Lovers.
With the band leaving subtle hints at what was to come across social platforms over the past few months, fan response at launch, and in anticipation of new music, has been ferocious. Adding to the hype, on 18th January fans were invited to call a hotline, where the lyrics of ‘One + One’ were recited in a dramatic reading by Keeler. With calls flooding in leading up to the single’s official announcement on 25th January, the news of a forthcoming album leaves fans, fondly referred to as ‘Lovers’, counting down the days to the album’s release.
Pre-order Is 4 Lovers here: https://dfa1979.lnk.to/Is4Loverspreorder
An exclusive line of DFA merch, including a limited edition autographed vinyl that is exclusively available only on the DFA store launched today, is available here: http://DFA1979.lnk.to/Shop
Is 4 Lovers tracklist:
1. Modern Guy
2. One + One
3. Free Animal
4. N.Y.C. Power Elite Part I
5. N.Y.C. Power Elite Part II
6. Totally Wiped Out
7. Glass Homes
8. Love Letter
9. Mean Streets
10. No War
‘One + One’ single artwork
About Death From Above 1979 (DFA)
Death From Above 1979 (DFA), the boundary pushing musical alliance created by Sebastien Grainger and Jesse F. Keeler, roared out of Toronto with the uncompromising one-two punch of 2002’s fuzz-bomb EP Heads Up and 2004’s epochal debut album You’re a Woman, I’m a Machine, complete with a North American arena tour with Nine Inch Nails and Queens of the Stone Age, before deciding mid-tour to part ways due to the strain of constantly touring.
Almost a decade later, the rekindled DFA fireworks lit stages around the world a blaze – amassing a posse of fans so passionate they incited a genuine, barricade-smashing riot at Austin’s Beauty Bar at the 2011 South by Southwest Festival. Playing Lollapalooza, Coachella, Glastonbury, Reading / Leeds, Osheaga, Lowlands and more, DFA continued to take the world by storm. Their second album, The Physical World (2014) took a No. 3 spot on the Canadian Billboard album chart and peaked at No. 28 on the U.S. Hot 200, not to mention No. 3 and No. 7 shots on Billboard’s Top Alternative and Top Rock registries, respectively. TV appearances around their first two albums on iconic late-night shows including David Letterman, Conan O’Brien and Jimmy Fallon showed a whole new audience the DFA live goods.
Arriving at No. 20 on the Canadian Billboard album chart, DFA’s scorching 2017 outing, Outrage! Is Now prompted Pitchfork to remark that “Death From Above now sounds more vital than ever.” With three smashing albums to their name, the duo drummed up an easy 10 million views before going silent once more, to the dismay of fans.
Now, DFA is back with the return of their new album, Is 4 Lovers – once again creating a new sound and reimagining the format they created more than 20 years ago.