The Kills are a band I’ve been aware of for a while, but never really bothered with. I’m not entirely sure why now, but I probably assumed that they were just another flash-in-the pan rough ‘n’ ready indie-rock guitar band. Well, it was the time of The Strokes, The Hives and all that cal. And where are they now?
But I was clearly mistaken, as The Kills have recently unleashed their third album, and now, from it, the ‘Black Balloon’ EP. And it’s not bad, not bad at all. ‘Black Balloon’ is rather toned down in comparison to the scuzzy lo-fi racket they’ve built their reputation on. That isn’t to say it’s bright, slick and poppy by any means: in fact it’s a magnificent, dark edged and moody number.
|
I did find myself waiting for it to really kick off, and that doesn’t happen, but instead, the sparse guitar and drums underpinned by a low-slung bassline sustain a tension to the end.
Perhaps a tad irksomely for the fans, the 10” (yeah! Buy vinyl, kids!) features tracks not available to download, and vice versa. Of the i-Tunes sessions download exclusive tracks the acoustic ‘Kissy Kissy’ and cover of ‘Crazy’ might not be up to much, ‘Sour Cherry’ is scuzzy and fuzzy, a buzzing off-kilter racket of a tune.
|
