Our Hearts Need A Love Dance

October 1st, 2009

You Say Party! We Say Die! are infamously known for “playing anything, anywhere, anytime.” With lead vocalist Becky Ninkovic being thrown out of the Rock ‘n’ Roll Herberge hostel after a performance in Berlin, to bassist Stephen O’Shea’s ban in the U.S, the Canadian quintet were able to find plenty of bad-kid inspiration for the aptly-named third album XXXX.

With stronger new wave beats and dialed down indie-punk, XXXX references an early version of The Cure and New Order, while playing off mainstream familiarity with groups like the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. XXXX is definitely an album about love; don’t mistake is for another foul-mouthed four-letter word. With Ninkovic summoning a softer voice for songs like, “There Is XXXX (Within My Heart)” and “Heart of Gold,” the album really shows how YSP! WSD! have grown since their sophomore, Lose All Time. Songs like “Laura Palmer’s Prom,” which sounds like a melodic climax in a John Hughes film (think Pretty In Pink or Sixteen Candles), show the affection that resonates throughout XXXX: “My heart needs a love dance. Could your heart use some romance?”

And having recently signed with Paper Bags Records in the U.K and Fierce Panda Records in Germany, it proves there really is “love, love, love,” for YSP! WSD!. XXXX is out now.