You Love Her ‘Coz She’s Dead are British electro duo, who burst onto the scene in 2007. Their self-titled debut album shows what happens when you throw out the rule book, and just create. The collection has an organic flow to it; YLHCSD experiment with every kind of electro, to create a fusion of noises which (mostly) gives them their own distinguishable sound.
The album opens with ‘Leap Of Desire’, with its slow saw-like synth line which just has you swaying back and forth. It then brings you back to Earth with the pounding, yet hollow drums. The spacious beats remain throughout the song. Bouncing vocals are balanced out with the glitchy backing words. Next up is ‘Sunday Best’, which picks up the pace of the record. The bass drum is un-touched by any effects; so it goes straight to your head. The song is simple; some organs, a nice plain guitar riff and the occasional backing vocal which is looped and so becomes part of the song. The song’s simplicity compared to the opening track gives the listener time to prepare for the aural onslaught to come. ‘Mud’ meanwhile draws you in with its uplifting chiptune melodies, but then drops down into the typical dubstep “wopping” sound. Despite this it maintains a little “fluffiness” with the continuation of the chiptune melody. Unlike the previous songs, the softer vocals are at the forefront of this track.
‘Legacy’ just…er, wins. The band builds up chaotic electronic beats, akin to Boys Noize, at the beginning. The wuring synth line makes you feel like you are standing in a jet engine. The fast-paced drums are deep and hard hitting and will surely get your heart racing. You get little respite from the frantic beats though, but when time to rest does come around, it’s in the form of an eerily high-pitched melody that makes you feel like you are flying…that goes with the jet engine contrast we made earlier. See?
‘Blinded’ meanwhile, starts off with some Daft Punk-sounding vocals, and then brings in the trance synth line and the familiarish hollow drum sound. The trance influence is soon forgotten though, and replaced with grimy synth lines; the track also incorporates appropriately placed breaks that give you a short time to breath. These two opposing styles are brought crashing together into a powerful explosion of sound; finally the song trails off with some simple drum work, as if the track itself were tired of rocking so f****ng hard. ‘This Is A Raid’ sounds like a classic rock anthem that has just been shoved through a synthesizer. The deep growling riffs and fast drums make you feel like you’re at an AC/DC concert. Though it’s a real shame as the song abruptly stops as if it were a poem.
‘Leap Of Desire (II)’ does something that we have only ever seen done at live gigs when bangin’ electro songs are suitably rocked up with live instrumentation; It fuses together two different versions of the same song in one track. This may sound strange, but it works. The interweaved trance and fast-paced grime parts dance around each other perfectly. The Final track on the album, ‘Softer Cell’, is a more melodic affair altogether; the backing synth line (which is unmistakably one used regularly by Crystal Castles) is simple and ethereal. The beat is slow and there are no effects and this is their emotive goodbye to us…for now, anyway. This album shows just how much talent these guys have, and how far they have to go. We can’t wait hear what they come up with next.
For more information visit the official You Love Her Coz She’s Dead website.
