Dame Area – Toda la verdad sobre Dame Area
On their latest album, the Barcelona duo push on in all the right ways, adding further complexity to their sound but never losing their fundamental breakneck intensity
Industrial duo Dame Area have towed a line between battering noise and slinky danceability since they emerged from Barcelona’s underground in the latter part of the last decade. Toda la verdad sobre Dame Area (The Whole Truth about Dame Area) loses some of the melody that had crept into their sound over the years, whilst adding some meat to the bones of their skeletal instrumentation. This could be a worrier, this stripped back, lithe energy so essential to what was exciting about the pair, but it works brilliantly well, the greater attention to detail making for their broadest, most consistent record to date.
They wear their influences on their sleeve; Sempre Cambiare pulsing with Suicide’s three-note bass throb, and Tú me Hiciste Creer has an undeniable pang of goth standard Bela Lugosi’s Dead, but the commitment and undeniable physical force of their sound transcends any sense of nostalgia. This owes a lot to Silvia Konstance’s vocals, which walk the deceptively difficult tightrope of feeling loose whilst also being forceful, particularly on the searingly intense Devoción.
It’s a strong record, one that feels like the record they have been building to since they began, the one where they push on in all the right ways, adding further complexity to their sound but never losing their fundamental breakneck intensity.
Listen to: Devoción, Sempre cambiare, Striscia