DU, formerly known as Det är Jag som är Döden (Däjsäd), have been haunting my ears (as DU), since their ‘Softness’ single appeared. I was a big fan of Däjsäd, and I was looking forward to hear something new by these misters (also a lady is present here) of pop noir. Also, it’s worth to mention the fact that two out of these three lads were part of the collective known as Bogus Blimp, that released three awesome experimental/collage/electronica/lounge/rock albums on Jester Records.
But Däjsäd didn’t really have that much in common with Bogus Blimp; at least in the surface. It was a different project, quite pop oriented, although I feel they share some obscure and melancholic touch, much more evident in Bogus, but also present in Däjsäd inbetween their “ah ah aaahs” and the pounding electropop beats, with some melodies that dwell in a subtle and joyful darkness.
DU continue with that same legacy with mostly noir moods, focusing more on this aspect than in their previous embodiment’s work, ‘Hey Space!’, which seems to be funnier at first, but in the end this ‘Risk & Investment’ proves a worthy successor. Maybe not as roller-coaster, seemingly “happy” and entertaining, but what DU offer here is a step further in their own personality. Some songs are more progressive, in the sense that they start quite simple and they develop with lots of layers and enshroud the listener in beautiful yet dark ambiences with which you may feel uncomfortable at first but you will want to come back to until you are one with them. I see this progression in the opening track, ‘To bring down a house’, as well as in the fabulous ballad ‘That’s modern’, one of the songs that features female vocals.
There are other kind of songs, more pop-like and traditionally structured, which deserve no less praise than the others. Songs like the already mentioned single, ‘Softness’, with steady beats and straight forward pop choruses, non exent of feelings. These are moments, rather than songs, because in the end both kind of moments merge quite often, for example the album opens quite straight forward with a pounding base and evolves into a precious moody atmosphere.
These more powerful moments, the featured howling poetries, and the occasional harsher sounds, are what makes the difference for me between the brutal pop noir of DU and other pop/electronica acts, together with their analog synths palette and warm sounds. Such sounds! you’ll want to embrace the songs as if they were corporeal, with the fat bass lines and the mellower pads, that come into a shape that is modelled by the soft (softness is indeed great) guitar playing.
Anyway what I love most of this album, it’s not the delicious moods of the songs, the emotional singing, the subtle guitar touches, the creepy sounds and fat bass lines… it’s all that plus the fact that the album is, to me, so far the only alternative to the debut as Däjsäd, and here alternative also means that one fills the emotional gaps in the other, being also complementary to one another, in some way.
Of course this is also the perfect album if you have a friend named Johnny who likes to come along with dvds and speed and that makes you uncomfortable but somehow entertained.
-Adryuu
VITALS:
Release: 1 February 2010
Label: Trust Me Records
Avantgenre: Pop Noir With Dvds And Speed
Duration: 42 Min
Origin: Norway
Official site: http://www.myspace.com/dutheband
Review online since: 08.02.2010 / 16:20:14
TRACKLIST:
01 – To Bring Down A House
02 – So Hot
03 – The Night
04 – Softness
05 – That’s Modern
06 – Trouble
07 – Risk And Investment
08 – Those Are Eagles
09 – 1000
10 – Hot Head
Thanks for sharing!