Now That It's Over This Weight Is Off My Shoulder

You're A Woman, I'm A Machine by Death From Above 1979

Insound

I first listened to Death From Above 1979 in 2006; though I've always enjoyed You're A Woman, I'm A Machine, I never quite understood what drew me to the album. At first I chalked it up to that period of my life: I was listening to Blood Brothers, Fall of Troy, and this made sense. As the years went by (and the two successive computer crashes that wiped out my music library), both Blood Brothers and Fall of Troy disappeared, yet Death From Above 1979 did not.

It wasn't until I was listening to it last night, at a volume probably not good for anyone (I can almost promise that I will be deaf by the end of this year), that I realized the album's magnetism. For one thing, songs like "Black History Month" or "Sexy Results" are obviously dance-y numbers, with slick hooks and a surprising gloss to its noise. But the best thing about the album by far is its pure emotional purge, a cathartic release of post-break-up frustration: these songs are thinly veiled and amazingly raw.

Though it may be slightly hard to hear under the dance floor noise that the album presents, in many ways it almost feels like each song follows a theme of love and violence. There are few things that bring couples together; two of the majors ones are sex and fighting, both which are explored in the album. "Romantic Rights" is descriptive of an attempt to make a relationship work when it simply can't, illustrated in lines like "You play with shapes but they just won't fit" and "Your romantic rights are all that you got". "Blood On Our Hands" is an obvious exploration in love and violence, finding "blood in all the things I say".

You're A Woman, I'm A Machine works on many different levels. As pop songs, dance numbers, noise rock, or break up songs, the album draws you in with violent, emotional catharsis. (And, it's amazingly fun to dance to.)