Even DMA'S Aren't Sure Where They'll Go After 'The Glow'

It’s just a couple of weeks out from the release of DMA’S third album and Johnny took sounds both optimistic and engaged when discussing its release. He's in Sydney from his now-hometown of Melbourne, waiting to go into a studio session. It feels unsurprising to learn that the group had 35 songs they took into the making of The Glow, an album that's set for release just two years on from their last.

The Glow marks a substantial shift in their sound. It’s less acoustic and more Madchester and dance-driven than their previous work, a direction that Took says is intentional.

It makes sense, given that their last album (2018’s For Now) saw them working with The Presets’ Kim Moyes, while The Glow saw Took and bandmates Tommy O’Dell and Matt Mason recruit legendary producer Stuart Price, who’s known for his work with acts like Dua Lipa, Missy Elliott, The Killers, Kylie Minogue and, perhaps most famously, for being the guy to get Madonna to sample ABBA. 

“I guess after releasing For Now, we were getting a lot of momentum, particularly in the UK, but things were getting bigger and bigger in Australia and you know, even our Splendour performance last year was one of the best shows we’ve played, so we wanted a reasonably quick turnaround,” explains Took. 

“I think people get bored these days, with social media and stuff people’s attention spans are a lot shorter, so as a band you’ve got to keep busy. We wanted to turn that around reasonably quickly, so we did the first two songs Silver and Round & Around with Scott [Horscroft] up at The Grove which was an amazing experience. We got in the strings and tripled a string quartet to make it sound like an orchestra, which, we’ve never done that before. There are a lot of new things on this record that we hadn’t done before, which is exciting, and that was just one of them. 

"I think naturally we’ve always been a pop band..."

“And at the end of one of our tours, we stayed in London for an extra week and recorded at RAK Studios which is where they recorded House Of The Rising Sun, and I think The Bends for Radiohead, it’s a pretty iconic place. There we did Life Is A Game Of Changing, The Glow and Strangers, and then we had a little bit more touring time, came back home for a bit and then in October/November I think we went over to America and went to LA, and finished the rest of the record off with Stuart Price, which was great.

“We definitely took a lot of different approaches to the production side of things," he continues.

"I think naturally we’ve always been a pop band, in terms of melodies, but I guess we were just approaching it differently. I know me personally, I’ve been getting into more beats and sequences and that style of production, especially after working with Kim on the last record. So I guess joining with someone like Stuart in particular, with his history with Madonna and New Order and Pet Shop Boys, for a band like us to transition into that world it can be kind of hit and miss, but I guess that’s why you get a producer like that on board, to kind of navigate you and make your dreams come true a bit.”

This sonic progression has also given the group opportunity to explore songs that had been sitting on the shelf for the best part of the decade. Notably, there’s the album’s final track Cobracaine - a song written by Mason about how end of school celebrations often coincide with the time where teenagers are getting their licenses, noting “There are often quite a lot of car accidents. It’s a pretty sad time, kids die as soon as they finish school.”

“That track was originally going to be on our first ever EP and it was written the same week that Delete was written,” expands Took. “We tried to record then and it wasn’t right so we held it off and we finally got it over the line.” 

Asked if it was almost like these songs had been waiting for this evolution of the band, Took says "That’s exactly what’s happened". 

“It’s kind of like we knew the melodies were good, we knew that they had a substance to them but we kind of didn’t know how to get them over the line. Or maybe we weren’t... Not 'mature enough', but had the experience maybe to do that. And that’s exactly what’s happened with a lot of these tunes. Lots of them have been around for a long time and then we’ve had to learn and grow to get them over the line, but now it’s like in doing that, we worked out how they got over the line and it’s helping us in writing future songs."

Took shares that they’re unclear which direction their fourth album will take - though it is already in the works with the group writing heavily throughout the COVID-19 lockdown period. 

“Since I moved to Melbourne, I’ve been writing a lot more with dance producers, but then at the same time there's a part of me... We do have a bunch of songs that we could go back to a more raw guitar sound,” he says. 

“I think we’re still experimenting a lot and learning a lot about music and songwriting. Ideally I’d like to do a blend, like a blend between Underworld, Chemical Brothers, My Bloody Valentine and Pavement, something like that, which is hard to do,” he laughs. “We’re still just working it out.”

The Glow is out today. Check it out here.