Yamila's Little Word: More Info on The Kills BLOOD PRESSURES

Sunday, January 16, 2011

More Info on The Kills BLOOD PRESSURES

The Kills To Release New Album Blood Pressures On April 5th

UK duo The Kills – Jamie Hince and Alison Mosshart – are back with a new studio album, Blood Pressures, out on Domino Records on April 5, 2011, their highly anticipated follow-up to their critically acclaimed third album, Midnight Boom. Blood Pressures not only marks the eagerly-awaited return of The Kills but is one of the most anticipated releases of 2011.

For the sessions that became Blood Pressures, Jamie and Alison returned to Key Club Studios, Michigan where they reunited with Midnight Boom engineers Bill Skibbe and Jessica Ruffins. Produced by Jamie Hince, co-produced by Bill Skibbe, the album was then mixed in London by Tom Elmhirst.

With their basic sound intact – searing guitars, driving rhythms and sexually charged lyrical savvy – the 11 tracks on Blood Pressures find The Kills embracing a fuller sound and becoming more adventurous in the studio, while the lyrics are honest, heartfelt and sometimes just plain heartbreaking. Departing from the sparse, angular sound of Midnight Boom, the duo explores complex textures on Blood Pressures. There is heavier instrumentation and layered, huge-sounding harmonies. Alison and Jamie play all the instruments on the album, including piano and mellotron.

The riff-heavy opening track, “Future Starts Slow,” sets the tone of the album, with Jamie and Alison united in their trademark singsong vocals over a toms-heavy tribal beat. But the lyrics show a new maturity and a sense that time is an increasingly precious commodity, as when they sing, “Don’t ever give me up, I could never get back up, when the future starts so slow.” Another blistering highlight is the pulsing “Heart Is A Beating Drum,” a classic-Kills slice of beat-driven, dark rock n’ roll. The second track on the album, “Satellite,” builds to a soaring, swelling chorus with additional vocals contributed by The REV Gospel Collective (who also appear on the track “DNA”).

The surprise track is Alison’s wonderfully pure chanteuse turn on the track “Last Goodbye” – a song that could have been plucked from a soundtrack to a forgotten ‘60s film- that pairs her sultry alto with a simple piano and string accompaniment. It’s gorgeously moving, cautiously hopeful and, despite its simplicity, builds to an epic conclusion with Alison singing, “I can’t survive on a halfhearted love that will never be whole.” (tears in my eyes as i read this tbh)

Blood Pressures finds The Kills with their swagger and sass intact, but with a new thoughtfulness and depth – even a tinge of wistfulness and vulnerability – to their always compelling songwriting. As one of the most vital, striking bands recording today, The Kills’ vividly unique “rock” is at once effortless, edgy and timeless.

It’s been three years since ‘Midnight Boom’ wowed critics and fans alike, but The Kills – Jamie Hince and Alison Mosshart - are back with a new studio album, ‘Blood Pressures’ which is coming out on Domino on 4th April 2011.

On The Kills fourth album, their trademark sounds - the razor sharp guitars, urgent rhythms, and sexually charged lyricism - are present and in place, but this time around they’re bolstered by the bands embrace of a fuller sound, which led to more adventurous studio sessions. Making a break from the sparse, skeletal sound that epitomized the jagged compositions that made up ‘Midnight Boom’, their new songs are more complex creatures created with heavier instrumentation and epic harmonies.

For fans of the street hassle swagger and sass that has come to be associated with The Kills, it’s all still alive and well in their new material, but with an added depth and thoughtfulness which is undoubtedly reflected in the, at times, frankly heartbreaking lyrics. The Kills haven’t disposed of their edgy rock identity, they’ve merely built upon it and created something even more special.

Jaime talks to MW about inspirations for the new album