With each successive release, Canada's You Say Party! We Say Die! have been making their sound more pointed. All the better to pierce the mainstream. Third album XXXX sees them jostle with Yeah Yeah Yeahs to be first in line to Blondie's throne, their post-punk guitars meshing with barbed synth hooks whilst frontwoman Becky Ninkovic hollers in her finest banshee wail.
It starts with the Bat For Lashes-goes-disco stylings of 'There Is XXXX (Within My Heart)', shimmering keys and delicate-as-glass vocal giving way to a temple-throbbing beat and the rapturous declarations of Ninkovic.
'Glory' is a guitar-led throwback to the bratty posturings of earlier years; 'Dark Days' sounds as slick and dangerous as a BP oil spill. Then there's the energy drink-fuelled 'Make XXXX', with guitar rattling like a sabre in its sheath, drums marching intently forward and the raucous chorus arriving to announce, "Our love will burn long for you". It's a sentiment which could also sum up feelings for recently deceased drummer, Devon Clifford. Elsewhere, the dead heroine of Twin Peaks is paid tribute in the dreamy, twilight world-pop of 'Laura Palmer's Prom'. And the closing 'Heart of Gold' is as glacially cool as Nico. Great stuff all round. If you're looking for exhilarating dance punk, XXXX marks the spot.