Kills
Last Day of Magic 5472 KB
Midnight Boom (2008)
[review 2008: favourites]
The Kills have always been on the periphery of my musical universe. With the occasional review saying “sounds like PJ Harvey but grungier!” and “way cooler than the White Stripes,” there was at least a pleasant-sounding buzz around the band’s first two albums. But I couldn’t quite take seriously a band whose members wanted to be called VV and Hotel in interviews, and to be honest I’m not one for the hard-living, drink-and-fight stereotype Alison Mossheart and Jamie Hince seem to embody. In short, I wasn’t really buying it.
Well, I’m sorry I doubted them, because Midnight Boom made the first half of the year not seem quite so hopeless when it came to music. After finding that many of the albums I was looking forward to were lacking in substance or appeal, it took the strains of “Cheap and Cheerful,” aka the obvious radio single, to convince me there was still music out there I haven’t heard yet that would appeal to me. And it’s with tracks like “Cheap and Cheerful,” “M.E.X.I.C.O.C.U” or “Sour Cherry” that the capital-A attitude the Kills seem to have makes sense: suddenly the comments about how they don’t look sexy and yet exude sex make sense, when you think about songs as slinky as these.
But let’s remember they’re not a club band, but a dirty indie rock duo with a predilection for marching band beats. So alongside the dancefloor numbers are more restrained but equally great tracks like “Black Balloon,” with Mossheart trading in her sass for an almost naive, sweet vulnerability. And then there’s the centerpiece, “Last Day of Magic,” which manages to completely overcome the apparent setback of rhyming tornado with Winnebago. For a solid two weeks, this was pretty much the only song I listened to. If there was nothing else on the album worth listening to, this would still be worth the price of admission.
But more than any particular song, the greatest contribution Midnight Boom makes is the noir atmosphere that soaks into every part of the album. The Kills’ single-minded dedication to that rough-edged, blackest-night aesthetic is perhaps the most laudable aspect here, and sets Midnight Boom apart from most albums produced this year.
filed under Hard, Review 2008
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