Canadian disco-metal duo Death From Above 1979 have announced their split.
The expected announcement was made by bass/synth player Jesse F. Keeler on the band's official website, reading in part, "I'm sure by now most of you assume the band isn't happening anymore since there are no shows, no work on a new album, etc. Well. I wanted to let you know that your assumptions are correct. We decided to stop doing the band... actually we decided that almost a year ago. We finished off our scheduled tour dates because there were good people working for us who relied on us to make a living and buy Christmas presents and pay rent etc. We couldn't just cancel everything and leave them out to dry..."Keeler revealed that label Vice Records asked the band to keep quiet about the decision at first, holding hope that they would change their minds. He went on to state that he and drummer/vocalist Sebastien Grainger were "still very sure the band won't happen again".
News of the split, and the band's commitment to fulfilling its label's obligations, puts into context their perplexing 2005 release, 'Romance Bloody Romance', a collection of half-hearted remixes which most fans agreed served no real artistic purpose. A far cry from the visceral fuzz of 2004's 'You're A Woman, I'm A Machine', Graigner admitted to Melbourne journalist Melanie Sheridan in July, "It ('Romance Bloody Romance') is a product, not a piece of art, not something that we worked on, like 'You're A Woman, I'm A Machine'. It's something that was released to make money."
Grainger went on to say that "Death From Above has always been a very small part of what Jesse and I do musically". Keeler's MSTRKRFT project is a collaboration with 'You're A Woman...' producer Al-P, whilst Grainger produced a remix on 'Romance Bloody Romance' with his project Girl On Girl.
