When New York’s DFA launched in 2001 it took aim at the youth of the day inspiring fans to do whatever it took not to lose their edge. But that was then and this is now and DFA is embracing its elder years with the newly formed Museum of Love.
While the project is new its members are true DFA vets as Pat Mahoney spent years drumming for LCD Soundsystem while Dennis McNany served time in label staple the Juan MacLean. And that experience shows on the duo’s self-titled debut which links decades worth of genres into something that’s very much dance music for the aged.
With McNany handling the songwriting production and instrumentation — mashing everything from NYC punk funk and mutant disco to Vangelis new age and AM Gold-certified soft rock — Mahoney emerges as their drum-playing frontman. He does a standup job too putting on his best weirded-out Harry Nilsson croon as he leads tracks that are as much a fit for the club as they are a night in with a well-aged scotch.
There are no big immediate pop payoffs here but a sense of smartly restrained minimalism and classed-up reserve where songs don’t get their hooks into you until you’ve listened three or four times. But once they do it’s clear Mahoney and McNany are aging gracefully as Museum of Love.
