The Australian band’s latest project, recorded across Sydney and Los Angeles, signals a sonically ambitious turn following their major label partnership.
DMA’s have released their self-titled fifth studio album, a deliberately stripped-down pivot that trades the polished sheen of recent years for something rawer and more intentional. Recorded in both Sydney and Los Angeles, the record marks the band’s entry into a new era following a global deal with Sony and production house Wonderlick, an arrangement that gave them latitude to pursue a grittier sonic direction than their prior work.
The album represents a deliberate departure from the increasingly radio-friendly trajectory that defined their 2020s output. Rather than chasing pop accessibility, DMA’s doubled down on the guitar-driven urgency and melodic precision that first made them essential figures in modern Australian rock. The split recording sessions between their home base and the American West Coast proved instrumental in shaping the record’s schizophrenic energy, each studio informing distinct chapters of the project.
For a band that spent years building toward arena legitimacy, this self-titled statement reads as a recalibration. Instead of inflating their sound further, they’ve contracted it, betting that there’s an audience hungry for substance over scale. Whether that gamble pays out in streaming numbers or concert attendance remains to be seen, but the artistic conviction here is undeniable. DMA’s are no longer chasing validation from the mainstream apparatus; they’re making the music they want to make and hoping the rest follows.
