There Is XXXX (Within My Heart) [Single]

It's a good thing You Say Party! We Say Die!-- the Canadian dance-punk quintet who had famously been barred from entering the United States for the past four years-- have finally gotten their visa problems worked out in time for the American release of their third LP, XXXX. Because, more than any point in their career, audiences will want to hear their new songs live. While other bands of their ilk petered out along with the intensity of the public's interest in dance-punk, YSP!WSD! have chugged along, touring tirelessly through Europe, and finally developing beyond the constraints of hi-hat 16th notes and wiry, stabbing guitar lines on a collection that encompasses both the gothic ambiance of Siouxsie and the Banshees and the tough-girl 1980s hooks of Pat Benatar.

At first glance the new album's title may seem like a reference to a porn rating, but the multiple titular Xs are actually acting as a stand-in for a four-letter word-- and not the one you think. As proved by opening track "There Is XXXX (Within My Heart)" and its repeated "there is love within my heart, there is love, love, love" refrain, XXXX stands for "love," which attests that the band is now more interested in feelings than actions. In the past, the five-piece dwelled firmly in the realm of physical wants-- see songs like "Cold Hands! Hot Bodies!" and their breathless rhythms and thumping basslines. But the slower pace and more sentimental outlook of XXXX gives listeners the necessary space and encouragement to surrender to the band's emotional message.

That message, though overwhelmingly positive, is married to melodies that are antithetically moody, melancholic, and minor-key. So while singer Becky Ninkovic sounds besotted, she layers lines about the redemptive and uplifting power of love against sinister synths and the hard edges of needling, repetitive guitar riffs. YSP!WSD! have long been compared to Yeah Yeah Yeahs-- after all, both are bands fronted by strong-voiced frontwomen who possess banshee caterwauls, and both are enamored of confrontational yet danceable rhythms and arty, aggressive riffs. And much like how Karen O and her crew reinvented themselves as louche, grooving synth-poppers on It's A Blitz, YSP!WSD! have similarly overhauled themselves for XXXX. Comfortable now on gentle, prettily sung slow-burners like "Heart of Gold" as well as on throttling, thickly percussive barnburners like "Cosmic Wanship Avengers", YSP!WSD! have made something unexpectedly tender out of darkly colored and often heavily propulsive material.

A lot of credit goes to Ninkovic, whose voice is richer and smoother than ever on these new songs. Distancing herself from comparisons to the tarter, more prickly Karen O, Ninkovic has finally found a unique voice that is still emotive but way less shrill than before, and it adds a welcome warmth to the collection. Her voice, like her band's sound, has grown beyond the limitations of YSP!WSD!'s early genre confines, giving the band new legs. Perhaps all they needed to mature was the incentive of a now-possible U.S. tour. And, of course, a little bit of XXXX.