DMA’S have spent the past decade refining their sound across increasingly polished records, bigger stages, and international tours. But for album number five, the Sydney trio have found themselves gravitating back towards the imperfections that defined their earliest work.
The band’s upcoming self-titled album – due out August 7th via Wonderlick Entertainment in partnership with Sony Music Australia and RCA UK – marks a purposeful return to a more raw and DIY approach to music after years of highly produced studio albums. And according to vocalist Tommy O’Dell, that choice is exactly why the record ended up with the band’s own name.
“We produced and recorded this album ourselves pretty much,” O’Dell tells Variety Australia in a new interview. “In many ways it kind of reverts back to our original sort of sound. We used a lot of demo takes on this record – you know, like actual demo vocals – and it just felt right to have the album be our name because we did it ourselves.”
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It stands in stark contrast to some of the band’s more studio-heavy releases through their former label, Mushroom Group, which leaned deeper into pristine production. Previously synonymous with the late Michael Gudinski-founded music powerhouse, DMA’S spent much of the past decade evolving from scrappy Sydney upstarts into one of Australia’s biggest alternative exports.
While O’Dell says the band aren’t abandoning those influences entirely, the new album reconnects with the DNA of their 2016 debut “Hill’s End” – the breakthrough record that introduced their blend of Britpop nostalgia and Australian pub-rock romanticism to audiences around the world.
“The first album had quite a bit of that because we recorded bits and pieces in a bedroom,” he explains. “But albums after that were very much studio albums done in the vocal booth and edited heaps. This one and the first album have the most similarities.”
The timing has unintentionally made the full-circle moment feel even more significant. As DMA’S celebrate 10 years since “Hill’s End,” they’ve been revisiting those songs live across recent UK shows – and discovering that the new material slides seamlessly alongside them.
“When we played ‘My Baby’s Place’, it really blended in with the set,” O’Dell says of the first single from “DMA’S,” which has racked up over 700,000 streams since its March release. “It felt like an old song.”
Rather than rushing straight from touring cycle to touring cycle like previous years, the band deliberately slowed down after 2023’s “How Many Dreams?,” taking a rare extended break from the road. The time away gave them space to live outside the relentless rhythm that had defined much of the last decade.
“In the past, we toured, done an album, toured, done an album,” O’Dell says. “But with this one we actually took the time and took a bit of a break, [to] live our lives.”
But stepping back from touring didn’t mean they stopped writing. In fact, O’Dell, alongside bandmates Matt Mason and Johnny Took, continued working on ideas almost constantly, with songs slowly accumulating before eventually forming what he describes as a broad but deeply cohesive record.
The key difference, beyond embracing the DIY spirit that defined their early work, was the absence of pressure. Rather than racing against studio deadlines or squeezing recording sessions between the demanding touring commitments, DMA’S allowed themselves the space to experiment, revisit ideas, and let imperfections shine through.
According to O’Dell, the album feels noticeably more relaxed, organic, and emotionally honest than some of their previous releases. “Sometimes when you’re doing an album, it’s like, ‘Okay, it’s vocal week this week,’ and you spend a week in the booth doing all the vocals,” he explains. “But with this album, it was just having the time to cruise through things.”
Prioritising spontaneity over perfectionism, demo vocals were kept in, small mistakes stayed, and “happy accidents” weren’t polished away in pursuit of a cleaner final product. That’s not to say the album is sloppy by any means – rather, it feels intentionally human.
“It was just about having the time, cruising through things. But in saying that, we didn’t want to make it perfect. There’s probably more mistakes or happy accidents in this record than most. We didn’t get bogged down trying to make it perfect,” he smiles.
“You can’t hear any stress in it, you know? When I listen to the songs, I know it’s been done in a really relaxed and organic atmosphere compared to some of the other stuff we’ve done in the past where it’s very studio based.” Laughing, he adds: “I remember doing a bunch of songs and I had a cold, and you can hear it!”
Much of that looseness came from where – and how – the album was made. The band spent large portions of the album working out of a historic Glebe studio rented through their longtime guitar tech and collaborator Eamon Smith. The space – previously owned by Australian music pioneer Col Joye, then Hermitude – carries decades of musical history, with artists including David Bowie and Bruce Springsteen having passed through over the years.
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“It’s got so much cool history,” O’Dell says. “If you go there, it’s still got its original layout. It’s mad. It’s just down the road, I’ll often get a call from Mase late in the arvo or evening, be like, ‘I’ll pop down, let’s do something.’ It was mad, I look forward to writing more tunes in there.”
He adds that he even abandoned headphones while recording vocals and intentionally used rougher recording setups to preserve the live, imperfect energy of the takes.
Sonically, the album also sees DMA’S broadening their palette. Alongside rock tracks and ballads are flashes of country, bluegrass, and Britpop influences – another nod to their early days. Although there are stylistic shifts between tracks, the frontman believes the album remains cohesive in a way only possible by making it together, on their own terms. “There’s this kind of chemistry within all the songs that glue it together,” he says. “Which has come from having our own studio and just chipping away at it.”
To celebrate the album’s release, the trio have announced headline shows in Brisbane, Melbourne, and Sydney set for later this year (and, according to the band’s Instagram, they’re working on Perth and Adelaide dates).
DMA’S self-titled album is out August 7th. Pre-order here.