After a decade spent moving through the relentless cycle of recording, releasing and touring, DMA’S finally allowed themselves the rare luxury of stepping back.
That pause has led to DMA’S, the Sydney trio’s self-titled fifth album, due on 21st August. It is a record that looks forward while reconnecting with the raw, guitar-driven energy that first defined Johnny Took, Matt Mason and vocalist Tommy O’Dell.
The latest taste, “Killing Time”, is perhaps the most immediate of the four singles released so far. It moves at a cracking pace, with a chorus built for the live setting, and arrives after the reflective “My Baby’s Place”, the distorted guitars of “Heatin Park” and the more familiar DMA’S territory of “Hurracane”.
“It’s one of Mason’s tunes,” O’Dell tells the AU review. “It started with those repetitive verses, and then we took it to one of our mates, Styalz Fuego. We kept plugging away at it and then wrote the chorus.”
“It’s a song that took a while to come together, but once we glued all the pieces together and got the right mix, I was really happy with how it sounded.”
That persistence paid off. “Killing Time” surges forward on a propulsive rhythm, while O’Dell’s vocal gives the track both lift and tension. The line “my head’s louder than the speakers” captures the internal noise beneath its euphoric surface.
DMA’S have already been rehearsing the track, and O’Dell is looking forward to adding another fast, guitar-heavy moment to the set.
“It’s always good to add new songs that are up-tempo,” he says. “It’s exciting to bring in more rock and roll ones.”
That phrase gets close to the heart of DMA’S. After exploring more electronic and synth-based textures on 2023’s How Many Dreams?, the trio deliberately stripped things back.
“On the last record we were playing around with a lot of synth stuff and electronic stuff,” O’Dell explains. “With this record, we just wanted to keep it bare bones and go back to our roots a bit with the electric guitars and that garage-y, DIY sound.”
The connection to Hills End is not accidental. DMA’S recorded much of their 2016 debut themselves, and their new album again places the band at the centre of the production process. Most of the record was co-produced with Lach Bostock of Mansionair, with additional input from Jimi Somewhere and Styalz Fuego.
Their own Glebe studio gave them something they had rarely enjoyed before: time. Rather than working to a fixed deadline, they could let songs reveal themselves.
“We didn’t have to rush,” O’Dell says. “Usually, for the last ten years, it’s just been album, tour, album, tour. But once we finished the last tour, we took some time off to write and take a step back.”
Life away from the road had changed too. O’Dell now has two young sons, Mason recently welcomed a daughter, and Took was only weeks away from becoming a father when we spoke.
“It gives you a bit more purpose,” O’Dell reflects. “It keeps you focused and keeps your feet on the ground. You’re not the most important person anymore, which is sometimes good to realise.”
That slower rhythm fed directly into the recording process. O’Dell believes the album’s unhurried creation can be heard in the vocals, some of which came from early demo takes.
“Sometimes when you don’t know the song that well, there’s a fragility to it,” he says. “You make a happy accident that you can’t replicate.”
Not every track arrived so easily. He recorded the chorus of “Killing Time” repeatedly before he was satisfied, while other songs, including “Windows”, were captured in only one or two takes. Without a producer constantly calling time, the band also had to learn not to overwork the material.
“We got better at knowing when we had it,” O’Dell laughs. “Then we’d just argue about it later in the mix.”
The result sits naturally beside the songs that launched the band. O’Dell says the new material has already blended seamlessly into shows built around the tenth anniversary of Hills End.
“The crowd have really got behind the new tunes,” he says. “Playing them alongside some of the oldest songs in the set feels quite seamless. I think that’s a testament to the direction of the new album.”
DMA’S will bring that new chapter home later this year with three major Australian dates: Brisbane’s Fortitude Music Hall on November 27, Melbourne’s Royal Botanic Gardens on November 28 and the Sydney Opera House Forecourt on December 3. Each show will also include a special Hills End anniversary set, while the band will appear at Yours and Owls in October.
For O’Dell, the Opera House performance carries particular weight. He recently passed the forecourt on a ferry trip with his children and found himself staring at the space.
“I was looking at it going, ‘I can’t believe we’re playing there soon,’” he says. “It should be one of those memorable shows that you look back on in your career. You can’t say no to a venue like that.”
Beyond Australia, DMA’S will return to the UK and Ireland in February 2027. Their Hills End anniversary run included two nights at London’s O2 Academy Brixton, while years of touring regional cities helped build a fan base O’Dell compares to following a football club.
“When we first started, we worked really hard touring small cities around England,” he says. “It was before TikTok, so to build a fan base you had to get into the venues and play live. I’m so glad we put in that work, because once you make fans in England and Scotland, they’re very loyal.”
Beneath the bigger guitars and anthemic choruses, there has also always been a country foundation to DMA’S’ songwriting. Before the band formed, Took and Mason played in country-leaning outfit Little Bastard, while O’Dell and Took explored psychedelic rock in Underlights. Those earlier influences have never entirely disappeared.
“All through our records, they were originally country songs,” O’Dell says. “Those influences will always show through in our music.”
That lineage remains audible on the new album. Took and Mason travelled to Nashville for writing sessions, while Mason is returning to the dobro for upcoming acoustic performances. For O’Dell, those sounds emerge almost instinctively: “Without even realising it, you’re subconsciously putting your influences out there through new music.”
DMA’S may be celebrating ten years of Hills End, but they are far from living in the past. “Killing Time” and the band’s forthcoming self-titled album find them re-energised, guitar-driven and ready to turn their next run of Australian, UK and Irish shows into something very special indeed.
DMA’S is out 21 August. The band tour Australia in November and December, and the UK and Ireland in February – head HERE for tickets
DMA’S Australia Tour Dates
27th November – The Fortitude Music Hall, Brisbane
28th November – Royal Botanic Gardens, Melbourne
3rd December – Sydney Opera House Forecourt
header image credit: Bruce Baker
